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Aviation glossary

Total Moment

What is total moment?

FAA handbook figure illustrating total moment

Total moment is the aircraft's weight multiplied by the distance between the datum (the reference point from which all arms are measured) and the center of gravity (CG). It represents the total turning effect of the loaded aircraft about the datum, and is found by summing the individual moments of all weights aboard. Think of it as the "grand total" of all weight-times-arm values—divide it by total weight to find where the CG sits.

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