Winter ops in the flight levels

[PDXBravo]

Took the Bravo up FL210 today on a flight between Vancouver, WA (VUO) and Salinas, CA (SNS) to take advantage of tail winds and achieved a 276 knot ground speed! However, it was -45C on the OAT and even wearing my ski gear with the cabin heat full bore, I could see my breath, with which I also frosted the pilot side windows and couldn’t defrost them. Any best practices to keep warm and defrosted in the flight levels?

 

 

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[M016576]

3 options to stay warm(er) at higher altitudes or colder oat’s:

1- wear more layers & Pack some hand warmers, toe warmers.  

2- buy something with a more robust heating system.  Maybe a turbine engine and cabin pressurization.

3- an airline ticket.

be thankful it’s not normally that cold at 21-23!  That’s pretty cold

[Awful_Charlie]

I suffer from the same thing - when the OAT drops to around -25, the heater struggles to keep up, and at -35 no amount of sunlight keeps the cabin warm enough for comfort without a thick jacket. Side windows frosting up on the inside is common, and cold feet is another issue. It's even worse in the back seats

Somewhere a while back I asked if anyone had a good solution - none were forthcoming

Maybe easier to investigate on your side of the Atlantic with the availability of DERs etc - I was thinking it *might* be possible to mount a heatsink type device on the firewall that takes the cooling function of the oil cooler and instead passes the *heat* through to a corresponding heatsink inside the cabin (my understanding is that passing an oil flow through the firewall will be absolutely denied). Thing is, I don't know how much cooling the oil cooler is doing in the cruise at those sort of OATs. If it were possible to have the intercooler inside the cabin there's probably a load of heat there, but again I doubt this will be possible due to it largely circumventing the point of the firewall!

The Acclaims use a sonic nozzle to take bleed air from between the turbo an intercooler - it might be possible to replicate on a Bravo, but I imagine the approval will be horrendous - in essence this is robbing the turbo of output, so I would expect all the PoH figures will have to be re-done, the critical altitude will be reduced (and it might not be possible at all without a different turbo) - probably just too difficult and expensive

[PDXBravo]

Has anyone tried portable/plug in 12V systems (similar to: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N2L6XDG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rtWwCbH9N4BDJ) which could boost the cabin temps another 10 to 20F?


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[Marauder]

Has anyone tried portable/plug in 12V systems (similar to: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N2L6XDG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_rtWwCbH9N4BDJ) which could boost the cabin temps another 10 to 20F?


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I have one that I tried to use to preheat the cabin when I am traveling (using a portable battery pack). They don’t throw out a lot of heat but it was better than nothing.


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[tigers2007]

Milwaukee Tool M12 series heated jackets...


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[KSMooniac]

Milwaukee Tool M12 series heated jackets...


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I have one of these for working in the hangar or yard in the winter and it helps. Runs on their common M12 batteries, or you can buy a 12V cig plug adapter and plug it into the plane.

I wish I had it when I was riding motorcycles!

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[carusoam]

How was your TIT at that altitude?

Does running it hotter generate more cabin heat?

With an NA Engine the FF is low at altitude, there is just less heat being generated.... running close to peak starts to make a lot of sense.

 

I’m glad you mentioned the frost was pilot related...  the alternative is exhaust entering the cockpit, the moisture freezes on the inside of the windows...

PP thoughts only, not a CO expert...

Best regards,

-a-

[kmyfm20s]

Amazing the heaters cant keep up. I can never open mine up all the way with out cooking us in the cabin. Then again I don’t fly that high. Recently I bought some 12 volt heated travel blankets for the car for when we have to drive on ski trips. They work great and don’t draw much power! They might be a good option.