Winter Operation

[Marauder]

Pre-heated this morning as planned. Here are two pictures... one with all the equipment on the ground and one with it in action. Note that all fits in the luggage area and when I worry about my options to pre-heat going away I can take it all with me.
Yves
 

Those pictures bring back memories. I was a torpedo heater guy for years. Don’t miss lugging that stuff around anymore.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[neilpilot]

21 minutes ago, yvesg said:

Pre-heated this morning as planned. Here are two pictures... one with all the equipment on the ground and one with it in action. Note that all fits in the luggage area and when I worry about my options to pre-heat going away I can take it all with me.

Yves

Not concerned about carrying a 20# propane cylinder at altitude?  I know that, in theory, it should be safe.  But......

[yvesg]

If you search the web, you’ll find out that it is not illegal. Is it safe though? Probably not worse than carrying drums of fuel which is done all the time up north. I have the option to take it with me however I do not recall the last time I did carry one with me, probably more than 15 years ago... I usually go south (visit Hector and Piloto) in the winter.

Yves

[Piloto]

Well my wife is ready for this winter.

[bradp]

I usually ask my in laws or whomever if I can borrow a propane cylinder if I’m visiting, and throw the red dragon in the back.  I have a small attachment for a camping cylinder to do a preheat or two as needed. 

[nels]

12 hours ago, Piloto said:

Well my wife is ready for this winter.

For you folks down in Florida that heavy coat probably goes on when the temperature drops to 60 degrees. I envy you!

[jlunseth]

I have a pre-heater and my plane is kept in a communal hangar at a local FBO.  I call them to plug it in about three or four hours before I go, but sometimes they don't get it done, so often I have them plug it in and leave it that way, with the oil cap off (cowl closed) so any moisture can escape.  When I travel I call ahead, find out if there is a way to plug in, and I carry an extension cord, I think it is a hundred feet.  Then I park as close to the outlet as I can, plug it in on arrival, and leave it until I am ready to depart.  Sometimes this has meant running the cord through the front door of the airport building, cracked open.  I don't bother with the battery and trim gearing, going to altitude is worse than what they experience at ground level.  I have flown at temps as cold as -50+ F during the winter.  The cabin heater does not help because all that stuff is behind the back wall, and the cabin is pretty cold anyway.

[tigers2007]

Anyone here still using a AT&T/T-Mobile cell switch to turn on their heaters? It was my understanding that AT&T discontinued their 1G service around Feb 2017. Seems like all of the cellular linked power switches worked on the AT&T 1G system so I didn't bother buying. Anyone have a cell powered switch that runs off of Verizon CDMA or LTE? I don't have WiFi available.

[Gary0747]

On 11/1/2017 at 9:26 PM, teejayevans said:

Our engines require oil to be splashed around, I assume there is a point where the oil will no longer splash. For those with refrigerators in their hangar, maybe you can do a science experiment, put some oil in the freezer section and see if it’s viscous enough to be splashed.

We used to have a pilot on original Mooney list 15 or 20 years ago that did a lot of flying on the west coast at high altitude in his 252.  I think his name was something like  Akamil. One day while flying in the 20s his straight weight oil congealed and he lost his engine. I have never used straight weight oil in the winter since learning of this. 

[Hank]

6 minutes ago, Gary0747 said:

We used to have a pilot on original Mooney list 15 or 20 years ago that did a lot of flying on the west coast at high altitude in his 252.  I think his name was something like  Akamil. One day while flying in the 20s his straight weight oil congealed and he lost his engine. I have never used straight weight oil in the winter since learning of this. 

Do you mean Dr. Bob Achtel? I've never heard that story . . . . .

[Gary0747]

No it was not Bob. I remember Bob was quite active both at Mooney conventions giving seminars and on the Mooney-Aviating.com mail list but have not heard from him in years. Did he crash too?  

[Hank]

5 minutes ago, Gary0747 said:

No it was not Bob. I remember Bob was quite active both at Mooney conventions giving seminars and on the Mooney-Aviating.com mail list but have not heard from him in years. Did he crash too?  

Not that I've heard, I was guessing from what you thought the bame was. Last I heard, he was still writing a medical column for the MAPALog.

[Igor_U]

20 hours ago, Gary0747 said:

We used to have a pilot on original Mooney list 15 or 20 years ago that did a lot of flying on the west coast at high altitude in his 252.  I think his name was something like  Akamil. One day while flying in the 20s his straight weight oil congealed and he lost his engine. I have never used straight weight oil in the winter since learning of this. 

I believe his name is Akmal Khan and he's credited to start a first Mooney caravan to OSH in late 1998.

For a while he was also running a Mooney list (not much active these days) on aviating.com that is now maintained by Javier Hendersen.

Regards,