By Thomas P. Turner

We learn early in our flying career that proper load distribution is vital to safely flying an airplane. Then we make weight-and-balance calculations for and fly in trainer airplanes in configurations where center of gravity (CG) distribution is rarely a factor. For instance, I completed part of my Private certificate training in a large university flight program, and I can’t remember ever being asked to compute weight and balance in a configuration that put CG out of tolerance, or learning that CG often shifts in flight with fuel burn so a “landing configuration” calculation is at least as important as verifying CG position for takeoff. From years…