"KRead" writes:

I flew over Carp (CYRP) the other day and they have a new row of
hangers going up. Not sure what the cost is, but hangers are a must
for our winters, IMHO.

Last year was my first winter flying -- I keep my Warrior outside (and
as far as I can tell, it's lived outside since it was imported into
Canada [Alberta] in 1988). At first, I had to pull it into the
maintenance hangar a couple of times to get ice off the stabilator,
but once I bought a stabilator cover (to go with the wing covers,
canopy cover, and cowl cover I already had), winter flying with an
outside tie-down became almost as easy as summer flying -- just a few
minutes extra time for covering and uncovering, and if below about -10
or -15 degC, a call to the flying club to have the plane towed to the
apron and plugged in the night before (the OFC is considering setting
up some new tie-downs with electricity, so that problem would
disappear as well).

I'd love a hangar, of course, especially a heated one, but it would
significantly raise my cost of flying. If I didn't have an
entry-level plane, it might be worth the extra money to protect my
investment, but in that case I'd need a partner to share expenses
anyway.


All the best,


David