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Showing results for tags 'winter'.
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For those not familiar with reported runway conditions for landing or departing (particularly in the winter), here is the criteria airports use to report conditions. They will be given by NOTAM or verbally by the tower during approach. There will be 3 numbers provided correlating with the 1st 1/3rd, 2nd 1/3rd and last 1/3rd of the runway (example 5/5/5). Hope this is helpful. Runway Condition.pdf If interested in the entire FAA circular, from which the chart was extracted, here is the link: https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-79A.pdf
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So, the cold weather is upon us and even though you may not have TKS panels and FIKI capability, you may find frost, snow or even ice on your plane that needs to be managed prior to any flight. The days of "polishing" frost smooth prior to flight were officially deemed unacceptable by the FAA Feb 2010. I've seen guys scrape surfaces with an ice remover, credit card or just a gloved finger. If you don't have access to a heated hanger here is a cheap, quick and effective alternative. I used an empty spray bottle with 91% isopropyl alcohol and a little TKS fluid (mixed 75/25). I sprayed a portion of the wing the night prior and the frost literally just wiped off while untreated areas were rather adherent. Spraying adherent frost/ice the morning of was also painless but took a little extra time and perhaps a little more fluid. I used about 1 qt. for the entire plane. Cost was under $3.00. The best part.....essentially no elbow grease and no damage to paint.
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So getting my Mooney M20C started in cold Wx is a royal pain in the six. I have engine preheating nixed for the moment, but am still struggling with the battery. If I keep it on a tender it works fine, but putting the battery box together is very difficult for me. If I leave it without a tender for even a week I haven't the power to get started. I'd leave part of a tender hanging out the battery box, but I doubt there's enough room to get anything out of there. I used to have the exact same problem with my Cherokee, but the battery was under the back seat. The voltage drop was pretty big. That said leaving part of a tender hanging out was no big deal. The battery in the Mooney is in the engine bay, not a good place for anything to hang out. Is this normal? It was for Cherokees, what about vintage Mooneys? Is my battery kaput? Is there a trick to putting the battery box back together?
