Username Protected wrote:
My Citation V that had the JetTech version of your panel needed an 80lb lead brick up in the nose. 150lbs is no bueno! I'm surprised they didn't do this for you.
If JetTech didn't remove ALL the dead wiring, then the change can be far less. Cessna says the stock avionics cable assembly on my airplane weighed 226 lbs, and that does not include trays and connectors, so that's a huge amount.
If JetTech didn't do an actual weighing of the airplane, just a mathematical W&B adjustment, it can also be way off, particularly for a mod that is so invasive and all the little bits missed on the adjustment. I recommend you get the plane weighed. You may be operating out the aft CG limit and not know it.
My mod removed ~500 lbs of stuff and put in ~120 lbs of stuff, net 382 lbs savings. That number is from actual weighing before and after the work so they are real. CG moved back a lot as expected.
My current nose ballast requirements are 50 lbs for 2 crew and no passengers, 200 lbs solo. Any sort of cabin load reduces this very quickly. Most critical operating point is empty fuel as fuel CG is always ahead of the aft CG limit at all loadings.
My goal is to move the oxygen bottle to the nose avionics compartment. That has the net effect of about 70 lbs of ballast, so saves 70 lbs of takeoff weight, and also gets the oxygen lines out of the rotor burst zone of the engines.
One thing I do worry about is tail heaviness while parked. This makes the plane to tail sitting due to snow or ice load on the tail. I will try to find a tail stand solution for this that I carry (in the nose, of course!). A tail heavy airplane is also more apt to be blown around by the wind. That is what got Judge Judy's Citation X to tail sit. Keeping the plane fueled will help, but you don't always want the plane loaded up that way.
I need to find some more things to take out of the tail. The damn CVR is ~30 lbs and way back there, but alas, I am required to have. Sigh. Maybe there is a modern lightweight version that isn't a king's ransom?
Mike C.