Reflecting on how good we have it

[Bolter]

I went down an internet rabbit hole, and was reading about the Medicine Bow mail airport from the 1930's.  There was a history written by a woman who's father was the caretaker for many years, and lived at the airport.  This story of a an early passenger/mail combo flight that was forced down due to extreme winter weather caught my attention (my underline):

  The temperatures were below zero, and the pilot was afraid that the oil would become
  too thick if left in the plane on the field overnight, and that the plane could not be started once

  the weather cleared and the "ship" was permitted to continue the flight. The oil was drained
  from the motor into one of Mother's galvanized wash tubs, which was placed on her kitchen
  stove for the night to keep warm.. The following morning, the weather cleared and the pilot
  was permitted to take off. The oil was poured back into the engine, the passengers were picked
  up from the hotel, and the plane continued its trip. 

Makes me appreciate my multi-weight oil and Reiff heaters much more!

• https://www.airmailaviator.com/blog/preserving-our-heritage-an-update-on-the-airport-weather-house#comments
• https://www.atchistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/MedicineBowHistory_all.pdf 
• https://bigfoot99.com/bigfoot99-news/colorado-pilot-raising-money-for-a-carbon-county-airport/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=colorado-pilot-raising-money-for-a-carbon-county-airport

[MB65E]

Sounds like a typical night in the Midwest during winter. 
I’ve brought batteries back to the hotel, Drained oil at shutdown. Then poured fresh new oil in the AM after the night at the warm hotel.  
-Matt

[Hank]

13 minutes ago, MB65E said:

Sounds like a typical night in the Midwest during winter. 
I’ve brought batteries back to the hotel, Drained oil at shutdown. Then poured fresh new oil in the AM after the night at the warm hotel.  
-Matt

Why in the sam hill would people voluntarily live somewhere like that???

[MikeOH]

33 minutes ago, Hank said:

Why in the sam hill would people voluntarily live somewhere like that???

Yuup!  Every time someone asks why I put up with Kalifornia, I just step outside in my shorts and t-shirt and enjoy today's 70+ degree weather and clear skies in January

[Justin Schmidt]

4 hours ago, MikeOH said:

Yuup!  Every time someone asks why I put up with Kalifornia, I just step outside in my shorts and t-shirt and enjoy today's 70+ degree weather and clear skies in January

I'll just put on a coat take my automatic out and have fun

[MikeOH]

Just now, Justin Schmidt said:

I'll just put on a coat take my automatic out and have fun

What's a 'coat'?

[Justin Schmidt]

2 minutes ago, MikeOH said:

What's a 'coat'?

Wouldn't you be asking what's an automatic lol

[MikeOH]

14 minutes ago, Justin Schmidt said:

Wouldn't you be asking what's an automatic lol

Nah, got a few of those...yes, even in Kalifornia!

[0TreeLemur]

11 hours ago, Hank said:

Why in the sam hill would people voluntarily live somewhere like that???

I did 11 years in Laramie, about 30 miles from there.  Like many people who move to the pretty mountains at 7200 ft (ISA temperature =0C), where the wind from mid-September through mid-May is 240@18G41,  it started out "voluntary".   Towards the end of the 11 years it began to feel "involuntary".   Needless to say, I didn't fly while I lived there.  The colds air temperature while I was there was (no-kidding) -40.   In the summer on a hot 90F day, the DA is 10,000 ft.  

Alabama is a much better place for the aviation minded, except it's been to damn cold of late for me.

[0TreeLemur]

14 hours ago, Bolter said:

I went down an internet rabbit hole

If you want to go even farther, read about H.A. Collison.  Here's a brief intro  https://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/collison-ha

He pioneered early skud running airmail in open cockpit biplanes in Wyoming blizzards.   He was legend.  Wrecked airplanes.  Landed in 2-ft deep snow.  Cheated death so many times.  Check this out - the article on the right side of the page discusses him quite a bit.  https://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn85042470/1923-08-22/ed-1/seq-1.pdf

Sadly, he was the captain of United flight 4 that suffered a night CFIT about 11 miles NW of Cheyenne in Oct. 1935. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Air_Lines_Flight_4  The accident was a real tragedy.   Great video about that bit of history on youtube. 

[Ibra]

19 hours ago, MikeOH said:

Yuup!  Every time someone asks why I put up with Kalifornia, I just step outside in my shorts and t-shirt and enjoy today's 70+ degree weather and clear skies in January

Florida should work as well? it gets cold from time to time but they bought snow removal vehicules 

 

Edited Saturday at 02:49 PM by Ibra