Dan Connelly wrote:
> 
>> I would imagine that for a jet fighter the centre of mass will be 
>> about 1/3 of the way from the main landing gear towards the front 
>> landing gear, judging by the beefyness of the wheels :-)
>>
>>
> 
> On a bicycle, the center of mass is approximately 40-45% of the distance 
> from the rear tire patch to the front tire patch.  Since the first 
> airplane is commonly attributed to bicycle builders, I'd say a plane is 
> probably similar.
> 
> 
> Dan

A more serious analysis may be considered by consulting a reference such as the
following:

<http://books.google.com/books?id=RDZUG--o9HMC&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&source=bl&ots=H1uZSIsNVR&sig=zJKCWYYoT4TYBGJ6Wyay8hJgANg&hl=en&sa=X&ct=result#PPA10,M1>

There's a nice figure on page 10 which shows the center-of-mass approximately between
the wings, within the fuselage.

Dan

Post a reply to this message