What is the useful load of a Cessna 172?
The Cessna 172 has an average empty weight of 1,691 pounds and a gross weight of 2,450 pounds, meaning its effective useful load is around 759 pounds.
Useful load—the weight of the pilot, copilot, passengers, baggage, usable fuel, and drainable oil. It is the basic empty weight subtracted from the maximum allowable gross weight.
Total Capacity: 42 gallons. Total Capacity Each Tank: 21 gallons. Total Usable: 38 gallons.
How Much Weight Can A Cessna 172 Carry? A Cessna 172S has a maximum gross weight capacity of 2,550 pounds.
| 1962 Cessna Skywagon 185A | 1968 Cessna Skywagon A185E | |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Empty Weight | 1,560 lbs. | 1,575 lbs. |
| Max. Useful Load Normal Category | 1,640 lbs. | 1,775 lbs. |
| Max. Useful Load Utility Category | N/A | N/A |
| Baggage Capacity | 350 lbs. | 350 lbs. |
Definition of useful load
: the excess of the full load including the crew and passengers, oil and fuel, auxiliary power system, and communication, navigation, and other equipment over the dead weight of an aircraft itself — compare dead load.
Useful Load - The difference between the gross weight and the basic empty weight is referred to as useful load. It includes the flight crew, usable fuel, drainable oil, if applicable, and payload. Payload - The weight of the passengers, cargo, and baggage. Gross Weight - Total of the basic empty weight and useful load.
| Range - 75% Power at 8,000 Feet | 630 Nautical Miles (estimated; 50 gallons usable fuel) |
|---|---|
| Time - 75% Power at 8,000 Feet | 5.3 Hours (estimated; 50 gallons usable fuel) |
| Maximum Range - 10,000 Feet | 750 Nautical Miles (estimated; 50 gallons usable fuel) |
| Maximum Time - 10,000 Feet | 7.4 Hours (estimated; 50 gallons usable fuel) |
MAXIMUM PASSENGER & BAGGAGE WEIGHTS
- 75% cruise power @ 6000 FT - 10.5 gal / 40 litres per hour - 45 minute reserve fuel included in flight fuel.
Owners of Cessna 172s and 182s can use 91-octane unleaded (91UL), 94UL, or 100VLL (very low lead) fuel in their aircraft wherever it is available, according to officials with Cessna's parent company, Textron Aviation.
How do you calculate useful load?
Useful load is the weight of the crew, passengers, baggage, usable fuel, and drainable oil. Generally, this can be found by subtracting the basic empty weight from the maximum allowable gross weight.
The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company. First flown in 1955, more 172s have been built than any other aircraft.
Therefore, for the purposes of this site, small airplanes are fixed wing airplanes that are not transport category. Depending on the category, small airplanes can reach up to 19,000 lbs maximum takeoff weight. Is a small airplane the same as a General Aviation aircraft?
It is also a very economical airplane, using 7 gallons of fuel per hour. It has a useful load of 850 to 900 pounds and will hold 50 gallons of fuel, enabling it to fly much longer than you would want to.
Payload: The load available as passengers, baggage, freight, etc., after the weight of pilot, crew, usable fuel have been deducted from the useful load. Operational Weight Empty: The basic empty weight of the airplane plus the weight of the pilot. It excludes payload and usable fuel.
Subtract the basic empty weight and fuel from the maximum weight. Check the aircraft's weight and balance sheet and find the maximum allowable gross weight of the aircraft. Then, find the basic empty weight value and subtract that from the max weight to get your "useful load" weight.
As stated, a truck's payload is the cargo it hauls. Specifically, it is the amount your truck can carry with a full fuel tank. Everything you can put in a truck is the payload. That includes gear, stuff you are hauling, people, even your dog.
Basic empty weight is the standard empty weight plus optional equipment. Note that basic empty weight includes no usable fuel, but full oil. Empty weight is the weight of the standard airplane, full hydraulic fluid, and undrainable oil. Unusable fuel is the fuel remaining in the airplane not available to the engines.
What is Payload Capacity? A vehicle's payload capacity is the maximum amount of weight it can safely carry. In a car or SUV, that includes all of the weight in the cabin and trunk. In a truck, it consists of all of the weight in the cabin and bed.
How many Cessna 172 crashed?
The world's most popular airplane, not surprisingly, has a great safety record. Safety and simplicity sell. In its latest safety review, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation looked at all the Cessna 172 accidents that occurred from 1982 through 1988 — more than 1,600 of them.
Five to six hours range when fully fueled
With the fuel tanks fully loaded the Skyhawk will fly up to five or six hours in good weather conditions.
The Cessna 172 burns about 7-9 gallons per hour with Avgas typically costing about $6 per gallon, hourly fuel costs for the Cessna Skylane run between $42 and $54 per hour.
The C172 has 2 kinds if fuel pumps, one is an engine driven pump and the other is an electrical (AUX) fuel pump. The reason why we have two fuel pumps powered by different systems is due to redundancy.
It's just in general conditions combined with the fact of the Cessna 172 only has a takeoff roll around 1000 feet or so at sea level conditions, there's not much need to use flaps. You can use up to 10° of flaps if desired.
For a short climb, the 172 burns 5.5 MPG. The higher fuel burn during a climb must be offset by lower cruise fuel flow or efficiencies in descent to get any savings overall. If planning a constant power cruise, say at 75 percent, it is almost impossible to make up the fuel used to climb.
Fuel Costs For A Cessna 172 Skyhawk
It costs nearly $5 per gallon and a Cessna 172 burns about 8.5 gallons of fuel per hour. So in fuel costs alone, flying your Skyhawk costs about $40 to $50 per hour, on average, depending on the price of fuel.
This was a high-octane avgas mostly used in military combat aircraft in the late 1940s when there was demand for high power output. Now, most military aircraft use turbine engines. For this reason, there is no longer any demand for Avgas 115, and so it is no longer available.
In a consumer notice, the Federal Trade Commission, notes: “In most cases, using a higher-octane gasoline than your owner's manual recommends offers absolutely no benefit. It won't make your car perform better, go faster, get better mileage or run cleaner.”
Weight and Balance Calculation Tutorial - YouTube
How do you determine empty weight of an aircraft?
Subtract the weight of the chocks, called tare weight, from the scale reading to determine the net weight at each weighing point. Multiply each net weight by its arm to determine its moment, and then determine the total weight and total moment. The CG is determined by dividing the total moment by the total weight.
Either standard predetermined weights, or actual weights can be used in this operation. Airlines usually use predetermined tables. Tables values take into account different types of travel (e.g. regular and charter). While the weight must be checked, the center of gravity location is of equal importance.
Useful load is the weight of the crew, passengers, baggage, usable fuel, and drainable oil. Generally, this can be found by subtracting the basic empty weight from the maximum allowable gross weight.
The empty weight of an aircraft is the weight of the aircraft without including passengers, baggage, or fuel. Standard empty weight usually includes unusable fuel, full operating fluids, and full engine oil.
Traffic Load is the total mass of passengers, baggage and cargo, including any non-revenue load. After the fuel required has been decided for. a particular flight the Traffic Load may be.
On top of that you have to add the fuel. The payload you quote is the maximum payload you can have if you also have full fuel on board. This is to make sure that the total weight of the aircraft remains below MTOW (Maximum Takeoff Weight) or possibly maximum taxi / ramp weight.