Talking about ballast, I've got a 20 pound chunk of lead under my work bench that has a Beechcraft part number on it. It looks like a pound cake cut in half and made to fit on the last fuselage bulkhead of a BE-19.

I am certainly not the engineer in the room. I'm just asking. What are the drawbacks of concentrating mass at the extreme ends of the airframe? Such as engine at one end and ballast at the other? Or a Cessna 310 with all the fuel weight out at the wing tips?

I did find a pusher that concentrates the mass near the CG. Its a Molt Taylor design called the Mini Imp. This is a link:http: //www.mini-imp.com/inboard_profile.htm

I was chatting with a retired USAF Aerodynamicist about something else and in passing he mentioned nose ballast in a fighter. I guess they all need some. He said that the dwgs specified titanium attaching bolts TO SAVE WEIGHT!

Bob