Max gross weight phase I ballast for dual stick legacy sonex

[jowens]

Any suggestions of what to use for max gross weight ballast for phase I testing in a dual stick legacy sonex? Lead shot is pretty spendy.

[JimP]

An 80 lb bag or 3 of Quickcrete belted securely into the passenger seat? Each in a tough garbage bag to keep the dust out of the plane. And 40 lb of play sand in the baggage area.

No shortage of bags of heavy stuff at your local home center.

[rizzz]

Here's what I did:


Borrowed a bunch of 20kg (44lbs) plates from my gym and added one at a time and went flying, also filling the tank each time.
They're good because they're heavy, they don't take up much room and they can be secured in place.

In the end I had 4 plates next to me and one in the luggage compartment. I was happy with that.
After that I drained the fuel to minimal level and went flying in a max aft configuration.

[mike.smith]

I used some 50 lb bags of pea gravel, all placed in my old Army duffel bag. I used the pea gravel around my yard when I was done :-)

[avee8r]

I was able to borrow a water tank with a human "basic shape" that automotive testing companies use to ballast cars and trucks during testing. I could fill it incrementally to work up to gross weight. Unfortunately, due to its shape, it wouldn't work with dual control sticks.

[DCASonex]

Have coal stove in my shop so used 40 pound bags of Old King Coal as my passenger, and baggage. Placed those bags in large clean trash bags so as not to get upholstery dirty.

David A.

[GordonTurner]

Whatever you do for this phase, please be VERY CAREFUL to ensure your load can’t shift, leak or impede the controls. Any of these problems can result in permanent death.

Gordon

[DCASonex]

Whatever you do for this phase, please be VERY CAREFUL to ensure your load can’t shift, leak or impede the controls. Any of these problems can result in permanent death.

Gordon

Especially true if you have a center stick. Ran into big air pocket that tossed everything when testing mine, fortunately well enough secured that I still had control when I came back down from canopy. Tie down stuff in baggage compartment as well. Have a couple of permanently anchored tie down straps back there in mine.

David A.