Baby, It's Cold Outside!

It's supposed to get colder yet this weekend! Just remember to bring your
cell phone, survival kit, epirb, etc. A night out in this weather would get
pretty uncomfortable.

I was planning on doing some backyard camping outside with my 10 year old
son this Saturday, but even with good gear it would be mighty cold. The
latest forecast is for subzero temps with a pretty good wind chill.

Being out on the ramp pushing a plane around isn't much fun under these
conditions, either!

We keep our Cessna 172 engine compartment/oil sump toasty warm with a 75
watt light bult and an arctic insulated nose cover. The oil drips off
the dipstick even below 0F. A small ceramic heater in the cabin during
pre-flight warms up the gyros and (very importantly) the windscreen, to
keep it from fogging up during our taxi to the runway. When I started
it at +2F a couple of weeks ago, I did need to use a couple extra shots
of prime to get enough gas to atomize. Oil pressure came up quickly.

The down side: during my descent into out destination, the cabin heat
diminished substantially. Brrrrr.

Al
1964 Skyhawk
SFF-Spokane, WA

"Al" wrote in message
. ..
We keep our Cessna 172 engine compartment/oil sump toasty warm with a 75
watt light bult and an arctic insulated nose cover. The oil drips off the
dipstick even below 0F. A small ceramic heater in the cabin during
pre-flight warms up the gyros and (very importantly) the windscreen, to
keep it from fogging up during our taxi to the runway. When I started it
at +2F a couple of weeks ago, I did need to use a couple extra shots of
prime to get enough gas to atomize. Oil pressure came up quickly.

The down side: during my descent into out destination, the cabin heat
diminished substantially. Brrrrr.

Al
1964 Skyhawk
SFF-Spokane, WA

To keep my airplane's oil flowing freely in the winter, I moved to Houston
:-)

Danny Deger

On Mon, 5 Feb 2007 11:07:45 -0600, "Danny Deger"
wrote:


"Al" wrote in message
...
We keep our Cessna 172 engine compartment/oil sump toasty warm with a 75
watt light bult and an arctic insulated nose cover. The oil drips off the
dipstick even below 0F. A small ceramic heater in the cabin during
pre-flight warms up the gyros and (very importantly) the windscreen, to
keep it from fogging up during our taxi to the runway. When I started it
at +2F a couple of weeks ago, I did need to use a couple extra shots of
prime to get enough gas to atomize. Oil pressure came up quickly.

The down side: during my descent into out destination, the cabin heat
diminished substantially. Brrrrr.

Some years back we were on our way home after visiting Joyce's folks
in Florida. When we left it was shorts and short sleeve shirt
weather. We stopped at Gainesville GA to visit my son for a couple of
days and it was downright chilly, but nothing the cabin heater
couldn't handle with ease.

Leaving Gainesville we angled over to Chattanooga and then North for
home. I'd guess it was about 50 to 75 miles north of Chattanooga that
we flew over the front and the temperature started down. Some where
around Kentucky we put our jackets on. By the time we reached Ohio we
had our wool sweaters on under our jackets and by the time we reached
Michigan the winter coats had been dug out of the luggage and the
gloves were on. It was downright cold in there!

At the next annual my mechanic had to have a flame cone replaced in
one of the resonators. As he had to go that far, along with my
complaint about lack of heat, he pulled the muffler and shroud.
Surprise! We found the jacket only had half the normal number of
threaded rods welded in and they were only on the outside with none on
the inside. So said muffler went in for repair as well.

We ended up eliminating the resonators even though they sound nice and
do quiet the exhaust note a bit, but they are heavy. Their weight
causes the rubber bushings in the exhaust supports to fail about every
year or two depending on how much you fly. But the new muffler? What
a difference. You may freeze your butt off while heading down the
taxiway, but once in the air the cabin is shirt sleeve comfortable
even when it's single digits outside. OTOH it 's still jacket time
when it gets any colder than that.

Al
1964 Skyhawk
SFF-Spokane, WA

To keep my airplane's oil flowing freely in the winter, I moved to Houston
:-)

First sensible fix I've read, other than I think I'd pick some where
other than Houston.:-)) Then again, I can't say much about location
as I live in Michigan.


Danny Deger

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com