Aircraft weight

Is it possible to view your aircraft weight while in cockpit? Some option under List maybe.. If not, is the rearm/refuel the only other option?

In the real world you know your aircraft Basic Weight from when you signed it out, then you add the fuel weight (look at the gauge), and the weight of the attached stores (look out the canopy/SMS page).

So to answer your question - yes there is, if you use the arbitrary ZFW in DCS for the aircraft that always stays the same :thumbup:

To not be cheeky - no, nothing specific on the ICP listing your total weight.

Ok, so with that if we're going RL. Pilots would need to know how much an AIM-120 or Mk82's for example weigh so they can add that to their total weight? There's no simple readout that tells ya "hey, you're sitting at 35,000lbs" right now :)

Absolutely. I used to do the W&B calcs for our P-3 aircraft every day and had a cheat-sheet folder with all sorts, including a complete list of all stores and their weights, and moments when installed at certain stations.

A lot of W&B these days is done more 'electronically' - so just enter 2 in the Aim-120 box and it's all done for you. But we still had to do it the old school way using graphs and a calculator....and a slide rule - no jks lol.

You only have a few weights to remember, and if you can't just make up a sheet for your kneeboard with the 2 A-A missiles the Viper currently carries and the handful of bombs and your GTG ;)

If it makes you feel any better - we had to memorise 11 pages of weights and limits :thumbup:

Edit: Apologies - (been a few years), I meant you start with aircraft Basic Weight (no fuel or stores), add stores to get ZFW, then fuel. We have the A/C basic weight written on the TOLD (Takeoff and Landing Data) card sitting in the cockpit, so you referenced that when determining your current aircraft weight to calculate Best Range Speed etc. W&B form example attached.

Ha that's crazy! I'm terrible at memorizing. Sounds like some tedious but rewarding work :thumbup:

Ha that's crazy! I'm terrible at memorizing. Sounds like some tedious but rewarding work :thumbup:

Hah yea you get better at remembering...or make little tricks to help you out! You can see in the example I posted above you have to list 'everything!' So after doing this form hundreds of times for several years you soon remember a 53D weighs 17lbs, 1 liferaft weight 280lbs etc. :thumbup:

Ha that's crazy! I'm terrible at memorizing. Sounds like some tedious but rewarding work :thumbup:

Welcome to the boring side of aviation. It’s not all 9G and 500 knots you know ;)

To answer your question but relating to the game only I open the mission in the editor and look at the loadout tab and adjust as required/ desired. The loadout tab will give you empty weight and fuel weight plus the stores you can workout by adding them individually.

Is empty weight what it's supposed to be?

Looking through some manuals I noticed that there are versions of block 50 Viper with wildly different empty weights. For example HAF F-16 empty weight is about 21000 lbs and USAF F-16 is about 18900 lbs. I have no idea how the HAF version is so much heavier but that's the empty weight we have in DCS.

Welcome to the boring side of aviation. It’s not all 9G and 500 knots you know ;)

Sounds like you have a lot more to learn if you think anything aviation is "boring" :doh::thumbup:

Sounds like you have a lot more to learn if you think anything aviation is "boring" :doh::thumbup:

There was a certain amount sarcasm in my message, hence the ;)

But thanks for your opinion on my aviation experience and knowledge, based on one flippant comment.

That being said working out weight and balance is my least favourite part of going flying. But needs must.

deleted duplicated post.

Looking through some manuals I noticed that there are versions of block 50 Viper with wildly different empty weights. For example HAF F-16 empty weight is about 21000 lbs and USAF F-16 is about 18900 lbs. I have no idea how the HAF version is so much heavier but that's the empty weight we have in DCS.

Note that in the HAF manual the 21000lbs is "with missiles, gun ammo, and is not accurate and could not be used for performance calculation". In the same manual the number used for performance calculation is as follows:

https://i.postimg.cc/MKJnVDWR/19261.jpg

Thanks for the image. The empty weight for performance calculations in USAF manual is way less than in your image. After some digging it seems the weight difference is due to conformal fuel tanks, internal ECM, updated electronics and Have Glass RCS reduction paint job. I don't think the DCS version has or is supposed to have any of that stuff so we are getting a weight penalty for nonexistent features. Actually the empty weight shown in mission editor is even higher than that.

Ha that's crazy! I'm terrible at memorizing. Sounds like some tedious but rewarding work :thumbup:

I usually make a kneeboard cheat sheet with information like that on it.