First flight- Breezy N1879B

[CHICAGORANDY]

One quick 'uneducated' question (formerly known as a stupid one - lol) the purpose/use of ballast in the passenger seat?

[gbrasch]

I missed the video the first time, really cool!

[Jeff Point]

One quick 'uneducated' question (formerly known as a stupid one - lol) the purpose/use of ballast in the passenger seat?

The ballast is used to place the CG in a specific location. During phase 1 flight testing there are all sorts of corners of the envelope to be explored and CG adjustment is part of that.

For a first flight- the CG is placed smack in the middle of the envelope. It is then slowly expanded during testing by adding/ removing balast.

[Scooper]

Fantastic job, Jeff. Watching the YouTube video makes me want to build one.

[CHICAGORANDY]

Thanks a million Jeff - makes perfect sense.

[Sterling Silver]

"For a first flight- the CG is placed smack in the middle of the envelope." I am helping a friend who purchased a BREEZY and has made an engine/prop modification. We have weighed the plane and I made a spreadsheet to calculate the CG, but I can find no information on what the Forward and Aft limits should be, so I don't know what the envelope is. Are the limits in the plans information? The new owner might have that.
Thanks.

Bert Shivers
Former Tandem Airbike owner
ASMEL, CFII, A&P

[Jeff Point]

Bert,

What you really need is the CG range of the wing that your Breezy uses. There have been a variety of wings used over the years so if you could find that out it would be a good start. Mine uses a Cub wing (from Wag Aero plans) and I used the CG range from those plans. Start in the middle of the range and work your way out. I ultimately did the entire test sequence from the EAA manual at both the fore and aft limits. I could have pushed it even farther but there was no need.