Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to Thanks for the photos

Airplane safety? Atmospheric research?
Lindy — (archived)

This just in:

>This is the inside of a test plane that Boeing uses to test the behavior of a plane with the center of gravity in different places... the big barrels hold water and they can pump it around to different barrels to change the balance of the plane:

"We can move weight, in the form of water, forward or aft with the use of the water ballast system. This system is comprised of 48 barrels, each capable of carrying 460 pounds, connected by tubing to a pump. A computerized system tracks fuel placement, fuel burn, people placement, ballast, flap setting, landing gear position and water barrel quantity. The information is processed to display the airplane's current CG. We move water or specify fuel tank usage to configure the CG within the specified test requirements."

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