Adam,
I must admit that I only read page 4 of the discussion. I'll go back and read the rest. Knowing Dick I'm sure it will be thought provoking.

As for zero weight airplanes and CG doesn't matter...I suppose if an airplane had no mass or infinite mass his statements are true. At times I think Dick was the one who invented Calculus because he's always taking everything to the "limit". We call the zero weight scenario the "trivial" solution but a solution nonetheless. Even the mighty Dick Hanson won't fly his foamie with the CG aft of the maneuver point.

Come to think of it discussions of weight and CG have absolutely no place in a "pure" aerodynamics forum. These are stability and control topics. Wouldn't that be terrible if we had to test every possible CG position seperately during wind tunnel testing...you'd never get done.

George

"Aerodynamics are not a function of weight and CG"