This paper was presented at the Nineteenth National Conference of the Society of Aeronautical Weight Engineers at Los Angeles, California, May 16 – 19, 1960. With the advent of the swept wing turbojet airplane, balance and loadability control in the preliminary design stage has become an increasingly important phase of weight engineering. Current designs of subsonic swept wing, multi-engined passenger transports present increasingly complex balance problems which require consideration early in the design. These problems arise from the highly swept wings, power plant mounted on the fuselage, multi-class loading conditions, and the many different interior arrangements and wide choice of optional equipment offered for any particular model.
In view of these problems the weight engineer must attempt to influence the design so that the airplane will inherently have good balance and loadability.
The purpose of this paper will be to illustrate in what areas and by what means the design can be changed to provide the most readily loadable airplane. No attempt is made to offer specific solutions of tools as these will vary with each particular problem. It is hoped that by pointing out the pitfalls, more effort will be placed on designing good balance and loadability into the airplane.