Outside in New England, home of the 90 minute winter preflight /
preheat.

God, that brings back (bad) memories. I trained in Wisconsin, in
winter, and (of course) my wise old CFI wasn't about to help me pre-
flight the plane. While he sat inside drinking hot coffee, I shoveled
around the plane, dragged the jet-engine heater up to the cowl,
uncoiled the 100 foot of (what seemed like solid wire) extension cord,
positioned the ducts accordingly, and cleared the aircraft of ice and
snow in sub-zero weather.

Wait 20 minutes, and THEN hope the plane actually starts. Did that
three mornings a week, before work, all winter. Got my ticket in
February.

I've been fortunate to have a hangar for our planes since Day One of
ownership, nine years ago. Although the hangar's not heated, the
plane's engine is, and the oil is a nice, toasty 85 degrees at start-
up, no matter the weather outside. Best of all, no busting ice and
snow off the wings!

Of course, we found our hangar door frozen to the ground last week,
which took an hour of effort to break free. So although it's better
with a hangar, winter can still be tough.

Luckily, cold-weather flying is so much better, it makes it all worth
it!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"