On Mon, 29 Sep 2003 17:17:49 GMT, David Megginson
wrote:

Roger Halstead writes:

OTOH with those temperatures we either have severe clear, or blowing
snow. It's rather uncommon to see clouds near the ground when it's
that cold here in the flat lands.

Maybe it's just not cold enough. Once you get past -30 degC or so,
you can get a dense freezing mist (like smoke) rising off any open
water, like a lake or wide river -- the parts that are frozen over
start to make a creepy, moaning sound.

I agree that truly cold temperatures ( -20 degC) tend to mean VMC, at
least where I live -- it's one of the fantastic things about winter
flying (clear skies, excellent visibility, good climb performance,
minimal turbulence, high ground visibility at night, and early sunsets
that make it easy to stay night-current). The downsides are having to
plug in the engine heater overnight and dealing with the @#$%#@ wing

I have a couple layers of the new blankets sewn together to fit around
the entire front of the plane from mid windshield forward around the
engine compartment and underneath where it completely covers the nose
gear doors, and around the front to wrap the first quarter of the
prop. The back of the spinner is even warm.

Problem is...the Deb doesn't warm up till I'm at cruise, or duri8ng a
long climb to altitude.

You can actually stay comfortable in heavy slacks and a long sleeve
shirt, but that is *after* climb out. :-))

Getting the Cub Cadet with snow blower out, cleaning the ramp and
maybe even part of the taxiway does not make the inside of the plane
feel any warmersigh It's kinda like working in an unfinished house
in the winter. Man, but it gets cold in there.

I've flown from Michigan to Gainsville Ga (LGM) without seeing a
cloud. Then again, I've flown from the middle of Tennessee and not
seen the ground till some where around Jackson Michigan.

Unlike the summer storms, you can fly over a blizzard at some where
between 3000 and 5000 AGL. The winter storms seldom get very high.
But I have been sitting "up there" and after hearing some of the
conversations on UNICOM thinking it'd be real nice to have one more
fan. That was when I realized it's a good idea to not only have a way
out, but have a way down when single engine. If it's really cold you
don't have to worry about ice in the clouds either, but since then I
make it a point to try to stay near the edges of those big storms when
there is no safe way down.
covers.

Roger Halstead (K8RI EN73 & ARRL Life Member)
www.rogerhalstead.com
N833R World's oldest Debonair? (S# CD-2)

All the best,


David