Skip to content

Weight & Balance (Web)

Calculate gross weight and center-of-gravity for any of your aircraft. The web W&B is the same calculator as the mobile W&B — same arms, same envelopes, same private-passenger config — but with more screen real estate for editing the underlying aircraft profile.

When you'd use the web vs. mobile

Task Use web Use mobile
Pre-flight check before a flight — ✓
Editing arms / envelope per aircraft ✓ possible but cramped
Saving a long list of scenarios either either
Looking at the loading on a real screen ✓ —

The aircraft's W&B profile

Each aircraft has a configurable W&B profile stored on the server:

  • Empty weight + empty arm (from the latest weighing)
  • Fuel station(s) — each with arm + lb-per-gallon (typically 6.0 for 100LL, 6.7 for jet-A)
  • Oil station — arm + lb-per-quart (typically 1.875 for SAE 50)
  • Seat rows — pilot/co-pilot, middle, rear, etc.
  • Baggage areas — front, rear, hat shelf
  • CG envelope — series of (weight, arm) points defining the polygon
  • Maximum gross weight
  • Maximum landing weight

Configurable per aircraft

Different aircraft have different station counts. A Cessna 152 has one seat row and one baggage area. A Cherokee Six has three seat rows and three baggage areas. The W&B profile editor lets you add as many stations as the POH defines.

To edit:

  1. Aircraft tile → pick the aircraft
  2. Weight & Balance Configuration tab
  3. Click + Station Arm to add a row
  4. Enter the station name (e.g., "Front baggage"), arm (in inches aft of datum), and the type (seat / baggage / fuel / oil / fixed)
  5. Save

CG envelope editor

The envelope is a polygon. You define it as an ordered list of (gross weight, arm) points; AZSuite plots the polygon and uses it for the in/out check.

Typical small-airplane envelope has 4–6 corner points:

  • Forward CG limit at low gross weight
  • Forward CG limit at high gross weight (sometimes the same)
  • Aft CG limit at high gross weight
  • Aft CG limit at low gross weight

You can find these in your aircraft's POH (Section 6 typically).

Running a calculation

After the profile is set up:

  1. Weight & Balance tile (web)
  2. Pick aircraft (defaults to last-used)
  3. Fuel — gallons in each tank (auto-summed if you have multiple)
  4. Oil — quarts
  5. Passengers:
  6. Click + Add Passenger
  7. Pick the seat row from the dropdown
  8. Enter weight in lb
  9. Private toggle — see below
  10. Baggage:
  11. Click + Add Baggage
  12. Pick the area from the dropdown
  13. Enter weight in lb
  14. The result panel updates live:
  15. Total weight — red if over gross
  16. CG — arm in inches aft of datum
  17. Status — "In envelope" / "Out of envelope" with which limit was busted
  18. Envelope plot — your dot vs. the polygon

Private passenger weight

For a passenger whose weight you don't want visible on screen (e.g., spouse), toggle Private.

When Private is on:

  • Your typed weight is saved to a separate hidden field
  • The displayed value in the row is (private) instead of the number
  • The CG / total math uses the real value
  • Saved scenarios remember which rows were marked private

The private weight is local to the session — not synced across devices.

Saving and recalling scenarios

For a typical pilot you'll have a handful of common loadings:

  • "Solo, half fuel" — quick currency hops
  • "Family of four, full fuel" — long cross-country
  • "Flight instruction" — you + CFI, training fuel load
  • "Maintenance ferry" — pilot only, minimum fuel

Click Save Scenario to name and store the current loading. Load Scenario retrieves it.

Scenarios sync between web and mobile.

Forward / aft CG warnings

If you're approaching a limit (within 1% of forward or aft CG), AZSuite shows a warning before declaring you out:

"Within 0.5 inches of aft CG limit. Consider reducing rear-seat weight or shifting baggage forward."

This is advisory — staying just inside the envelope is technically legal but flies poorly (especially aft of CG, where stability degrades).

Out-of-envelope handling

If the calculation results in a violation:

  • The dot turns red on the envelope plot
  • A banner explains which limit was busted
  • The Save & File Flight button is disabled

You're not allowed to launch with the W&B in this state. Adjust the loading and re-check.

Pilots — start the flight from this screen

When the loading is good (green dot, total under gross, in envelope), the Save & File Flight button at the bottom takes you straight to the pilot logbook entry form with the aircraft pre-selected.

The W&B record itself isn't currently saved alongside the flight (on the roadmap). For now if you want to record what loading you flew, copy the total weight + CG into the entry's remarks.