wiping snow off

[[email protected]]

For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

[Nathan Young]

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 10:44:50 -0500, wrote:

>For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
>for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
>snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

The weight of snow can be significant, especially if the snow is wet
snow which is much heavier than powder.

Wings and struts have been bent by snow. So to answer your question,
if you have a plane on tie-down, it would be a good idea to visit it
during a heavy snowfall and remove the snow. It would be a better
idea to seek winter shelter in a hangar.

-Nathan

[George Patterson]

wrote:

> For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
> for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
> snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

I used to do this. Once we got about 9" of snow, followed by freezing rain,
which turned the top 2"+ of snow on the wings of my 150 into ice. Another storm
dumped 6" more snow on it. By the time I got to the airport, the gear was badly
splayed out, with the tires pressed nearly flat. After that, I'd be out there
with a broom as soon as I finished shoveling the walk at the house.

The 150 would always wind up on its tail as the snow built up on the horizontal
stabilizer. The tail tiedown ring was a piece of angle iron embedded in
concrete. One storm pushed that iron right through the lower rudder cap.

With the Maule, if I brushed the snow off while it was still snow, any ice would
usually melt off in the sun within a week. If I didn't do this, snowmelt would
seep down through the snow to the wing and freeze, forming an ice layer that
might take a month to go away.

Bit of advice. If you buy a tailwheel aircraft, get a tiedown that faces north.
The flight surfaces will be exposed to what little sun there is all day long.
Facing east is a good second-best. *Never* park one facing south in the winter.

George Patterson
Coffee is only a way of stealing time that should by rights belong to
your slightly older self.

[Jim Burns]

There's a perfect example of why you should wipe snow and ice off your
airplane sitting up at KSTE. So much ice and snow had accumulated on the
tail of a 172 there that the nose gear is completely off the ground and the
tail is laying on the ground frozen in a drift.

Think about what happens when the snow partially melts and then refreezes
INSIDE the airplane. Not everything melts and simply drains away.

Jim

[[email protected]]

Jim Burns > wrote:
: There's a perfect example of why you should wipe snow and ice off your
: airplane sitting up at KSTE. So much ice and snow had accumulated on the
: tail of a 172 there that the nose gear is completely off the ground and the
: tail is laying on the ground frozen in a drift.

Happens 1-2x per year even here in VA. We get 6-12" of snow and all the
Cessnas on the tie-down line have their their noses in the air and tails on the
ground. Pipers generally seem more nose-heavy so they usually stay put. Fortunately
it usually melts off in a day or two if you brush off the big stuff.

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************

[nrp]

Hangared aircraft can have snow load problems too if the hangar has big
wind leaks. It happened in a Dakota blizzard maybe 30 years ago.

[Gig 601XL Builder]

"nrp" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hangared aircraft can have snow load problems too if the hangar has big
> wind leaks. It happened in a Dakota blizzard maybe 30 years ago.
>

They can also have problems if the hanger roof falls in due to the snow.
Happened here, El Dorado Arkansas, a few years ago and crushed two
Citations.

[clipclip]

For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

in general, snow and ice won't inflict damage to an aircraft. however, larger quantities of ice may damage spars or surfaces, although i have never hear of snow having that effect.

during the great ice storm of the northeast a few years ago a C-172 i used to own got covered with a few inches of solid ice. under the weight of the ice on the tail feathers, the 172 leaned on the tail skid, leaving the wings facing backwards a bit instead of directly down. the weight of the ice was sufficient to bend both wing's rear spars. (the wings supported a block of ice 4 inches thick by 4 feet by 30 odd feet - about 40 cubic feet of ice). snow OTOH would have slid off the wings and not inflicted any damage.

fv

[Michael Ware]

We got a heavy coating of ice here, last year about this time of year
(KOSU). Nearly every tricycle gear aircraft left outside was nose-up, tail
on the ground. It was so bad, some of the antennas on the bottoms of the
planes were icicled to the ground.

--
Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict...

[Matt Whiting]

wrote:

> For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
> for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
> snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

Generally, no. It would take a lot of wet snow to exceed the design air
loads that wings and tail surfaces can withstand. Just take a look at
the number of sandbags they load on wings during testing.


Matt

[Mike Spera]

wrote:
> For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
> for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
> snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

I own a Cherokee 140. As "trainer" as they come.

I go out often because the airport is less than 2 miles away. I also try
to fly it at least once a week for an hour to get the oil up to temp and
boil off any water in the crankcase. Yep, I clean it off to FLY it.

After nearly 12 years of owning the beast, going out often to clear off
the plane and shovel around it has always been better than leaving it
until the storm is over and I have a huge mess to clean up. Also, if I
clean it often, it is always "ready to fly" if we get a good day or two
in the middle of the week. Yeah, it can be tough to preflight in the
dark on a cold evening during the week after a day of work. But, the
flights are usually spectacular. Dead calm air, quiet as a tomb at the
airport, nobody around in the air for miles, and no dimbulbs out there
clicking the runway lights up and down.

Good Luck,
Mike

[Al Gilson]

There's about a half dozen aircraft at SFF in Spokane, WA that are
sitting on their tails. That last storm was a couple of weeks ago. Sad.

Al
1964 Cessna 172
Spokane, WA

wrote:
> For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
> for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
> snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

[zatatime]

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 10:44:50 -0500, wrote:

>For a standard trainer type airplane does anyone (who owns one not used
>for training) go out to the airport when not flying just to wipe the
>snow off? Does the weight of snow and/or ice damage surfaces, etc?

Yes.

[[email protected]]

Al Gilson > wrote:
: There's about a half dozen aircraft at SFF in Spokane, WA that are
: sitting on their tails. That last storm was a couple of weeks ago. Sad.

There's a guy around here with a plane tied up outside. He flies it a few
times a year. Whenever it's particularly cold, he comes out, fires it up
un-preheated, runs it on the ground for 5 minutes, and then shuts it down. Makes me
shudder to think of his Lycoming cam.

-Cory

--

************************************************** ***********************
* Cory Papenfuss *
* Electrical Engineering candidate Ph.D. graduate student *
* Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University *
************************************************** ***********************