Dimensions and Ground Clearances

Everything you do on the ground is bounded by how much space this aeroplane occupies — through a hangar door, between two parked wings, over a kerb at the edge of a taxiway. The three-view figures give those numbers, and two of them carry a condition that changes what the figure means.

At a glance

• Wing span (strobe lights installed)36 ft 1 in
• Overall length27 ft 2 in
• Maximum height8 ft 11 in
• Wheel base length65 in
• Propeller ground clearance11 1/4 in
• Wing area174 sq ft
• Minimum turning radius (pivot point to outboard wing tip)27 ft 5 1/2 in

Figure: Principal dimensions (redrawn).

The conditions printed with the figures

Two entries on the three-view are quoted against a stated condition rather than in isolation, and the condition is part of the number.

Read these with their condition

• Wing span — the 36 ft 1 in figure is shown with strobe lights installed, so it is the span measured across those wing tip fittings.

• Normal ground attitude — the attitude the three-view is drawn in shows approximately 2 in of nose strut showing, with the wings level.

That ground attitude is not a piece of trivia. It is the same attitude the handbook asks for when you refuel and when you sample the fuel drains, because a tail-low or wing-low aeroplane holds its fuel somewhere other than where the drains and the filler necks assume it is.

Turning and ground clearance

Wheel base length — the fore-and-aft distance between the nose wheel and the mains — is 65 inches. The minimum turning radius quoted on the three-view is 27 ft 5 1/2 in, measured from the pivot point out to the outboard wing tip. That is the swept circle of the wing, not the track of the wheels: it is the figure that decides whether your tip clears the aeroplane parked beside you.

Propeller ground clearance is 11 1/4 inches. It is a small margin, and it is the reason loose gravel and unprepared surfaces get their own handling in the normal procedures.

Wing area

The wing measures 174 square feet. It is the divisor behind the wing loading figure quoted in the same general data, so carry it alongside the maximum weight rather than on its own.

Check yourself

• What is the wing span, and with what fitting installed is the quoted figure measured?

• How much propeller ground clearance does the aeroplane have?

• Between which two points is the 27 ft 5 1/2 in turning radius measured, and what does that circle represent?

• What does the normal ground attitude look like in terms of nose strut extension and wing attitude?

• State the wheel base length and the wing area.

Study aid — always fly your aircraft's current AFM/POH.