Reducing MTOW (EASA)

There are STC’s in place to reduce >2t to 1999 kg for Senecas and similar planes.

So I guess an STC is needed. Whether one exists for the PA28 I have no idea. (But was the 140 not below 1000 kg normally? 1050 sounds like a -180)

This search finds some previous type specific stuff.

AIUI you need an AFMS to reduce the MTOW, and that is usually a Major Alteration (in the FAA world). In the EASA world I would expect at least as much so probably an STC.

It can’t be easy otherwise a lot of people would be doing it. For example before Part-ML included ELA2, there was a definite advantage in going below 1200kg.

You need to reduce it in noise certificate and aircraft database to pay less, the AFM ou AFMS and STC are irrelevant

I think many STCs get you past past 1.6T but noise certificate never gets updated from 1.4T

You certainly will still get bills from Eurocontrol (if going below 2000kg) until you tell them, and then they will mark it up on their database.

There are very few STCs for this, which is probably telling you something. In the US, the incentive to do this is zero. It is just Europe.

Replace the strut bolts with weaker ones and let Eurocontrol know

I actually know a flying school based at a regional “international airport” that operates Cherokee 140’s rather than warriors/cadets to take advantage of the lower landing fee it brings.

Why not getting two seaters like C150s/152s? or DA20s?

I think doing this for lower landing fees is short-sighted, unless you are never going far from base. Probably true for a school.

It is normally done to avoid Eurocontrol IFR route charges, which are quite significant.

Ibra wrote:

You need to reduce it in noise certificate and aircraft database to pay less, the AFM ou AFMS and STC are irrelevant

The official MTOW is in the type certificate and AFM/AFMS. For practical reasons I fully agree that changing the noise certificate (no idea if you finde somebody to issue a noise certificate with a different MTOW) and the Eurocontrol database entry would safe you from fees as these are the only things that are checked when calculating fees, but this still does not change MTOW.

Snoopy wrote:

What is required? STC? DOA?

You need an STC and this STC will include updated AFM/AFMS pages. It is not only the numbers but also the pages with Va at max MTOW. It might also be that some placards and eventually even the airspeed indicator needs to be changed (as the Va used for markings is Va at MTOW and it is obviously reduced when you reduce MTOW).

All in: You need to save a lot of landing fees to compensate for the cost of getting this done. The <2t STCs are made for avoiding airway fees, not landing fees, and even there many people doubt that it is worth the hassle and the reduced use of the plane at lower payload…
If you had to do the STC yourself: forget it!