Fill 'er up? No Thanks.

So you're at a local airport and you've decided
to take an afternoon cruise in one of their rentals,
but you'll need accompaniment by a CFI because
your certification is limited to Light Sport.

In the line-up are several Cessna 152's. These
are the "bargain" planes. Well, you better take
responsibility for weight limits and not assume
the CFI has.

Example: Let's say you weigh 210 pounds. Now
out comes your co-pilot CFI who looks rather
"stout". For all you know he may weigh 260. (This
happened to me.) An empty C 152 is supposed to
weigh 1081lbs, but with avionics and other junk
it could easily weigh another hundred pounds
empty and without fuel. (It holds 26 gallons) The
take-off weight limit is 1670 lbs. So let's do the
math with a full tank.

Empty plane..........say..........1150 lbs.
26 gallons @ 6.2lbs./gal., ..... 161 lbs.
Your weight............................210 lbs.
CFI's weight...........................260 lbs.
Carry on extras........................20 lbs.

Total.................................... 1,801 lbs.

Allowable..............................1,670 lbs.

So now you're overweight 131 lbs. What if it's
a hot day. And a very humid day. And you're
in a location of high elevation. But the CFI
say's "don't worry about it, we do it all the
time".

Don't do it. Get a bigger plane, use less fuel,
or get a smaller CFI.

---
Mark