Cold weather flying.

St. Louis has its Iceolated contest coming up in dead of winter. There are similar events around the country. Some of you send pictures of you flying off of ice.

I am just curious, what is the coldest weather that you have flown in. And why?

Oh, yes, what special techniques/precautions do you use when flying in cold weather? (What do you use to get the engine started, keep it warm, keep yourself warm....)

Down on the Texas Gulf Coast it really doesnt get much below freezing for any length of time. Winter is our favorite flying weather. We flew in 27 degree dry cold which is a lot different from 27 wet and cold. No special starting problems. The biggest problem was convincing my partner to go. Now that took some special technique. He hasnt forgiven me yet. Stay warm? We all work outside anyway so everyone knew how to dress. The wives retreated to Pzza Hut.

>Down on the Texas Gulf Coast it really doesnt get much
>below freezing for any length of time. Winter is our
>favorite flying weather. We flew in 27 degree dry cold
>which is a lot different from 27 wet and cold.

According to my kid (I'd managed to forget), we had some snow in Houston in about 1972, and weather about that cold. I was about to ask "how often" could you go in such weather - we were there from 1966 to 1977 - it really freezes much less often than here in San Antonio. There haven't been any really bitter cold days yet here this winter, although we did have the most extended period in which the temperatures hovered in the 30's longer than in recorded history.

>Stay warm? We all work outside anyway so everyone
>knew how to dress. The wives retreated to Pizza Hut.

There was such a restaurant on Hillcroft, pretty close to Bayland Park, where I flew in Houston until they turned that field into still more unused ball fields. It sounds somewhat like the Gulf Coast you refer to may be the same one I recall, save for having edited out of memory the weekend you are mentioning.

Overall, I suspect that my general dislike for cold weather kept me from trying to fly at Bayland at this time of year while we were in that city. I'm not really a born-in-Texas type. My first few years were spent growing up in sunny California!

The winter I spent in Corpus (1964?) was even warmer than any in Houston, and while I was there I can't recall any usable flying sites in close proximity to a Pizza Hut ..

Leonard --

The way you start an engine in cold weather is to start it in the car with the heater going full blast. My old flying buddy (John McCollum) and I had a new Rat we just had to try out back in Indiana in the 60s. I had this really sharp '49 Chevy with a visor and great heater. We rolled out the lines and started the engine with the door slightly ajar. Then we ran out and flew. I'd guess it was about 10 degrees F.

This year will be the 7th or 8th Ice-O-Lated Stunt Contest. The first four or five years the weather was not bad at all. The second year people were out in shorts.

The coldest I have flown in was 24 F. It was calm and overcast. My only concern was a Sig nylon bellcrank in the airplane, but no problems. I wondered if the cold would affect it.

Our local RC guys do a New Year's Day SnowFly every year. They spend most of their time in warm vans with coffee and cocoa. The trick is to jump out, start up, and fly until just before the batteries get too cold to sustain things. This year it was at least 10 below. Zero, that is......Sorry about the RC reference, but at those temps, subtle distinctions have a way of losing their importance.

When I was in 6th to 9th grades, we lived in Pullman, (SE) Washington state. When I was about 14, my parents told us to get lost, they had to clean up the house and get ready for a New Years Eve party they were hosting. We went flying, and when we got home at dusk it was ZERO degrees F. We had no car, no thermos, no insulated boots or anything more high-tech than flannel lined jeans. Yup, we froze our hinney's off. I recall some guys pouring fuel on their engine's cylinder and lighting it afire, but I don't think I did. Dang it was cold! Steve

I remember flying combat ships with ST G21 .35's in the snow and ice in Oklahoma City in mid 1970's. Temp was around 20 degrees, maybe less. Used a propane torch to head the head-trick was to get it warm enough to start without setting anything on fire. If it comes down in the snow it plugs and you blow or wipe off the snow. Snow on engine melts of course. If it comes down on ice it kinda skids and bounces for a while. As to staying warm, you don't really notice the cold if you are young and have lots of want to.

The coldest that I ever flew in was about 20 years ago in Feb. A friend of a friend came down here to Wichita KS and had sent word ahead that he wanted to fly some combat. The only day that he could get off so we could fly was windy (about 25 MPH and cold (16 degrees above zero if I remember correctly) We met at the Field with the only pit man that would brave the cold and I brought two of my best planes. He flew one for three flights to get used to it and I flew one once to get a needle setting. Then we flew Four matches before the pitman went on strike. No collisiions and several cuts were made. The guys name was Louis Lopez if he happens to be reading these forums.
Bigiron

Question 1: -28°F, no wind.

Question 2: Much younger and more stupid plus the rest of the guys said they would be there. Couldn't "chicken" out.

Most folks here have clothing on hand that will make those temperatures at least bearable.

We used only profiles and heated engines with Zippo's until warm enough to start. Used our standard fuels and plugs, which, at that time, were Superfuel and Fox RC Longs, respectively. We tried skis and wheels on hard packed snow and found that wheels worked much better...so much so, that I haven't bothered with skis since.

I'm certain that others have flown in colder temperatures....They can have 'em.

Old Sourdough
Ruksakinmakiak, Alaska

>I am just curious, what is
>the coldest weather that you
>have flown in. And
>why?

I'd guess I'vd flown when it was in the teens, and with lots of snow on the ground. This was in the late 70's when I lived in Kentucky. I was with a series of green box Noblers and Fox 35's, all orange/white with Monokote. A 2 volt battery and a 1.5 volt plug helped the start the first time, and after that it was fine.

The why was something along the lines of being an idiot. Nowadays, I can find *lots* of other things to do rather than flying anytime it gets below about 55. Not to mention trying that trying to start PA61's at 40 degrees usually ends up leading to a blood transfusion.