How does burning fuel located at 96 inches arm affect CG?

• A. CG moves toward the tail
• B. CG remains unchanged
• C. CG moves toward the nose
• D. CG moves unpredictably

Answer: (C)

Center of gravity is the balance point of all weights, found by dividing the total moment by the total weight. When you burn fuel, you’re removing weight at the fuel’s location, which also removes its moment contribution (weight × arm). How the CG shifts depends on whether that fuel location is aft or forward of the current CG.

If the fuel is located aft of the current CG (the arm value is larger than the CG’s distance from the datum), removing that aft-weight reduces the aft moment more than the overall weight, so the balance point moves forward toward the nose. In this case, burning fuel at 96 inches—typically farther aft than the aircraft’s current CG—causes the CG to shift toward the nose.