"Roger Long" om wrote in
message ...
Did I miss this in my training?

I thought Pitot Heat was only needed in icing conditions. Tom Haines column
in this months AOPA mag recommends turning it on in or near moisture at any
temperature. Is this a typical recommendation?

Is there an effect like a carburetor that could cause ice to from in the
pitot at above freezing ambient temperatures?

Since the heat is provided by a hot filament, having it on a lot
unnecessarily would make me worry about finding that it's not there when you
need it.


Personally, I've lost my pitot/static insturments when flying through moderate
to heavy rain without pitot heat on a 70 degree day. Of course, I didn't HAVE
pitot heat to turn on, but I got them back about an hour after I got out of the
rain.

I assume what happened was I got a few drops of water in the pitot tube and it
got plugged, and I had to wait for it to evaporate or blow out. I would guess
that if I had pitot heat on, it would evaporate the water quicker and possibly
have avoided the problem.

For the record, I was flying a PA-12 at about 40 mph indicated when it first got
plugged.

--
Mike O'Malley