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Unread 12-07-04, 12:25 AM
kevin kevin is offline
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Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Hillsboro, OR (HIO)
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Hi Richard,

Some ideas:

Carry less fuel (duh).

Newer, lighter, avionics and instrumentation is the easiest from every perspective but your wallet. Also, remove instruments and avionics that you don't use.

Remove seats you don't use.

If you are really serious, removing the carpeting, sidewalls, etc will shed some weight. Also, the seat material used by Cessna in the 60's and 70's can be replaced with better, lighter material today.

Stripping to metal and repainting sometimes nets a reduction in weight. Or don't paint it, just polish it, that is good for weight reduction.

Removing old, unused wiring (which I think you have already done, along with most or all of these suggestions) will reduce weight.

Depending on your mission, you can remove optional equipment list deice equipment, strobe lights. You can also replace old, heavy lighting equipment with new, lighter equipment.

You can dump the gear doors with the RT Aerospace mod. Or do your own mod (which would be quite a challenge) and remove actuators as well as the doors (but I think you get to redesign the powerpack/controller for the gear).

Remove the heater, wear a jacket. Who wants to fly where it is cold anyway?

Remove intercoolers if you have them.

Install Innodyne turbine engines when they become available. (OK, I am really reaching now, but I know you, you are probably already working on this ;-).

Remove copilot's control wheel and associated "stuff". Again, this is a "do your own mod" type of thing.

Depending on your mission, remove one alternator. Use a lighter battery if can find one.

Those are the things that come to mind immediately, although I can think of several more, all "your own mod" kind of things that I think you have alreay considered, like electronic ignition, lighter turbocharger, etc.

Hope some of that helps.

Kevin
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