ORIGINAL: tonyg11780
Please correct me if Im wrong, but to calculate the wing loading of an airplane...is the following the correct method?
1. Divide the weight of the aircraft by the wing area
2. To get it to oz / inch, multiply your number by 144, as there are 144 square inches to a square foot
3. Multiply that number by 16, because there are 16 oz per pound?
this just doesnt sound right to me, but the numbers look right...as an example on an edge 540 with a 75'' wingspan and a 26cc engine...
Weight-Lets say 10 lbs
Wing area-990.7 sq inches
10 / 990.7=.010093873
.010093873 x 144 = 1.453517712
1.453517712 x 16 = 23.25628339
Would this put the wing loading as 23.3 oz/sq inch? I seriously think I am overcomplicating this, but someone here should be able to tell me.
Thanks in advance!
TonyG
TonyG,
There is one problem with your calculation. When you multiplied your number by 144 you converted from "per square inch" to "per square foot". The final number is 23.3 oz/sq ft. I'm sure that's what you meant and no one else bothered to mention it. An easy way to do conversions is to think of the units as fractions separate from the numbers. Here is how I would work your problem:
10 (lb) / 991 (in^2) = 0.01 (lb/in^2)
0.01 (lb/in^2) x 144 (in^2/ft^2) = 1.45 [(lb)(in^2)]/[(in^2)(ft^2)] = 1.45 (lb/ft^2) The in^2 terms cancel.
1.45 (lb/ft^2) x 16 (oz/lb) = 23.3 (oz/ft^2) Again, the lb terms cancel one another because lb/lb is 1.