leaky heater, In the Ole days a spoon or two of pepper would stop a leak, too much would stop the heater and radiator.? Farmer John
Well if nothing else it's easy to find the air leaks!
On Mon, Jan 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM, Joe Norris via Some of the craziest, stupidest, wildest things that we do, we do because it ends up making a good story afterward.? Or at least that is what I have come to use as the excuse! On Mon, Jan 6, 2025 at 4:18?PM Christian Bobka via <blamebobka= [email protected]> wrote: Great story! ? The day before I was to set off from Long Island to drive to Texas for the start of the spring semester at the university of Texas at Austin, the heater core in my 67 Chevelle sprung a leak.? I disconnected the hoses at the engine block and drive down with no heat (or defroster).? Before long I was driving the 1600 miles in my sleeping bag and the car had a clutch! ? I had to either scrape the frost from my breath off of the inside of the windows or drive with the windows open.? What a dumb ass I was but at least I have a good story to tell. ?lol.? Your post caused me to flash back to what was probably the coldest I have ever been in an airplane.? I worked for Sonex Aircraft LLC back in the days when they still had the "Light Plane Expo" in Sebring, FL.? John (Monnett, Sonex founder and president) decided that he wanted to take an airplane down to Sebring for the event rather than just setting up a booth.? Foolishly, not fully considering the fact that the Sebring event is in JANUARY, I volunteered to fly the airplane to Florida rather than having to disassemble and trailer the plane down.? (There might have been alcohol involved in that conversation.)
So, here I am, ready to start out for Sebring in the uninsulated, unheated Sonex Aerobatic prototype (which was powered by the prototype AeroVee turbo engine).? Did I mention that this was in JANUARY?? It was cold.? I mean COLD.? I think it was about 10 degrees, but felt even colder in the wind and snow flurries that morning.? I thought I had enough clothes on, and I planned on the nice bubble canopy of the Sonex acting as a bit of a solar heater for me.? Well, the sun went behind a high overcast, and I didn't have enough clothes on!
My first fuel stop was Bloomington, IL.? I was numb.? I fueled up the airplane, then sat in the FBO for about half an hour to soak up some of their glorious heat.? But not wanting to let the airplane cool off too much, I finally forced myself to get back in the air.? I ended up landing at Marion IL for my overnight stop.? They had a heated hangar I could put the airplane in, and as soon as we got the airplane into the hangar and I realized I was done flying for the day, I started shaking uncontrollably.? I had to sit down for about 10 minutes before I could stand and walk.? Can you say hypothermia??? When I got to the hotel I just turned the heater up as far as it would go and sat right in front of it until the shaking finally stopped.
The next morning it was a balmy 20 degrees when I left Marion, but I was heading south so I gradually got into warmer air and survived the trip (after spending two days in Selma AL to wait out the weather).? Man, I hope I am never that cold again!? It was brutal!!? We were smart enough to just leave the airplane in FL after Sebring, so we rented a hangar at Lakeland and I flew the airplane over there after the Sebring event and didn't fly it back to WI until after Sun N Fun.
I am not a fan of cold!!
joe
On Mon, Jan 6, 2025 at 10:42?AM Tailwind14855 via <Tailwind14855= [email protected]> wrote:
Two different ways to go for oil temp. Regulate the flow of oil with a fuel shutoff valve connected to a control. Or regulate the flow of air either into or out of the cooler with an airflow valve.? My cowl flap is stuck in the mid position, no power to servo. As a result my CHT runs a bit high on takeoff and a bit low in cruise. It takes at least 20 minutes to get my oil to 180, even at 50 degrees ambient.? I really like the cowl flap. Useful even in the hot weather at higher altitudes. I miss the ski flying even though I don't like the cold. I flew an open cockpit one of a kind homebuilt at 10F. A short flight, well prepared. I left Syracuse area with the Pitts, 10F for takeoff. Stopped for the night in Jacksonville area, 40F there. The next year I was prepared with snowmobile suit and battery powered electric socks. NO HEAT in the Pitts.
On Monday, January 6, 2025 at 08:27:48 AM MST, Jim Schmidt < jim47ex@...> wrote:
You guys are way more resilient than I am. 35 to 40 and Sunny are my temps. I only put one heat exchanger on my exhaust sytem when I built my RV6. Food for thought for you Tailwind? builders. If you are going to fly in Winter in the north you? will want more heat. Sun helps a lot with the RV canopy.
-------- Original message -------- Date: 1/6/25 8:02 AM (GMT-06:00) Subject: Re: [TailwindForum] At what cold weather temp do you stop flying?
Keith,
Interesting that you should post your question today, as the Polar Vortex has just swept into Texas.? Jeri and I spend winters in TX to avoid this cold BS!? It is 24 degrees here in Fredericksburg TX this morning, so I figure most of the native Texans are frozen solid.? Jeri and I finally put our long sleeve shirts on.? Anyway, to the point of your question....
My answer is "it depends".? If I am just wanting to go out flying for fun, I usually use 20 degrees F as my cutoff.? It's not that the airplane really would care, but I just don't enjoy the cold and getting the airplane out and back in just lets heat out of the hangar.? So I just say the heck with it if it is below 20.? However, if I have a "mission" that needs accomplishing, I will just do what I have to do.? The Super Cub has a pretty good heater, at least for the front seat, and if I tape up enough of the cowl inlets I can keep the oil temp up to around 160 or so, so I will do what I need to do.? Haven't had the Tailwind long enough to know if the cabin heat is worth a darn or not, and if I play my cards right I will never have to find out!?
I remember that I had to take a friend to pick up an airplane one time when it was about -20F, but the Piper Pacer I had at the time had an excellent heater so away we went.? He wasn't so warm on the way home in his new-to-him Skybolt though.? But that kind of mission is pretty rare for me, so I doubt I would have much reason to fly if it is that cold outside.? 20 is plenty cold enough for me!
Hope everyone has a great 2025!!
Joe
Hello All,
I am curious as to how cold it gets before you stop flying.? ? I have a really good heater in my plane and I think I have flown it down to about zero F but unless I have a specific mission,? I normally don't fly when it gets below about10 degrees F.? What do you do?? ?This is not really a post about how to start your cold engine or about preheating as I am going to assume we all preheat when it gets cold.? ? It has been cold in Wisconsin the last week or so.? I flew last Thursday and it was about 18 degrees F and all was fine other than oil temps only got to about 160 degrees.? CHTs were around the 300 degree mark.? ?
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I have contemplated using some blue "painters tape" to partially cover the cowl inlets (would remove after each flight)? but have resisted putting any tape on my cowl.? ?I used to use duct tape on my Tripacer and have flown it to -15 F with no problems.
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Just curious.? ?Winter flying can be very enjoyable.? Let's all have a great 2025!!
Keith
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