Definition
The allowable range, specified by the aircraft manufacturer, within which the empty-weight center of gravity must fall if the aircraft is to be loaded without further check of the loaded center of gravity. When the empty-weight CG falls inside this range, normal loading procedures will keep the aircraft within its operating CG limits.
Plain English
When the aircraft is empty, its balance point must sit somewhere inside a manufacturer-specified band. If it does, you can load the aircraft normally without worrying that something unusual will push the balance outside safe limits.
Context Anchor
Seen in aircraft weight-and-balance records, equipment changes, and maintenance paperwork after an aircraft has been weighed.
Derivation
Center of gravity means the point where an object’s weight is balanced. Range means a span between two limits. In this term, the words point to the allowed span where the empty aircraft may balance.
Why Pilots Care
It sets the baseline balance limits that determine how much payload and fuel can be added without creating unsafe flight characteristics.
Analogy
Think of balancing an empty model airplane on your finger. There is a small area where it is acceptable for the model to balance; too far forward or too far back is not acceptable.
Intuition Check
Do not read “empty” as completely bare or stripped down. Here it means the aircraft’s approved empty condition, with required equipment and standard items included, but without the load carried for a flight.
Example Sentence 1
After installing the new avionics package, the technician reweighed the aircraft and confirmed the empty-weight center of gravity range was still within the limits published in the type certificate data sheet.
Example Sentence 2
If the empty-weight center of gravity falls outside the published range, the aircraft must be reweighed and adjusted before any flight.