Winter Flying

[6898]

How do you prep yourself and the aircraft for winter? No comments from the Watermelon group in Florida LOL. I'm fortunate in northern Illinois to have a heated hangar which I keep 50 to keep the bill down but feels great when its 20 outside. I'm always concerned about preheat after hearing the seminar from Tanis heating at the Fairbault convention good people to talk to call them. Do you change to a lower viscosity oil in winter? I'm running Aero Shell 100W plus all year round and try not to fly below 25 degrees outside temps. I have made my own cowl covers for the cylinders and the smaller ports at the cowl front. I have the patterns if you need them. I also cover the small "Blast tube port" on the right side of the rear baffle with a cap plug. As far as the interior goes hard to keep the little heat I have in because our doors seem to open at the tops and let a lot of heat out. Just part of the light weight design i guess. I do put a blanket rolled up in between the top seat and package tray to keep the draft from the lower rear down that helps. Remember winter coats gloves and boots all take up more room in a already tight cockpit so if your use to flying with someone in the summer months it will get little heavier and a lot tighter in there. The best for me flying in the winter is the performance , smooth days and NO BUGS! Would like to hear from our Alaska pilots how deep and how cold before a no go day? Stay warm and safe Jeff

[8322]

I create a cold weather kit yearly with foil tape on the inner couple inches of the front vents and such as well.

I also take preheating really serious, as I found in my reserch it is an often overlooked area, that folks think a blast of heat to thin the oil in the kidney tank is good and off you go... I want me entire engine warm... as its also about bearing clearances that shrink in the cold and also our cylinders from my understanding have a taper to them, narrowing at the top so that at operating temp the walls are "parrallel" and that cold cylinders started up can force a piston in a very tight cylinder.

I have a 275 W old Philips preheater on mine, looks like a hot water heater element... I find if I wrap the cowl well, that 8 hours or so later the the entire engine compartment is 85 degrees... So I see no reason to switch away from the 100w oil.

I think its very important to wrap the cowl up so the heat can spread around to all the engine not just the bottom.

[6991]

I've been flying my 140 around Lake Superior for the past 9 winters. Certainly no expert, but I've learned a few things.

I fly Phillips XC 20W50, which seems like an all around good oil. Nothing against a straight weight oil, just happy with how this one performs. I bought the winter kit for the 140 as well, and that seems to help. There is a serious struggle with trying to get any sort of good oil temperature while flying on the cold days. Preheating is done with a ceramic heater and the entire engine compartment gets it, and for at least an hour. I have a heavy duty timer that gets plugged in when there are days which I want to leave early, otherwise it is extra time at the coffee pot. When stopping, I keep the stops limited so as to not sacrifice any heat which may have been gained.

In the plane I always dress too warm and willing to take a layer off. There are always hot hands behind the seat, extra gloves, an extra hat, and a small survival kit which I have made. If the snow gets really deep and I plan to venture off towards the big lake or some of the National Forests, the snowshoes will go behind me as well. I wish I could figure out a way to be warmer when flying, but that battle has yet to be won....

The skis on the 140 are fun, but in there lies a lot more work and effort.

Joe

[6930]

Hi Jeff,

Also a Northern Illinois pilot (Naper Aero). I too keep my plane in a heated hangar which is a great thing to be sure.

I run Phillips x/c 20-50 and have never found a compelling reason to switch to single grade oil. If I lived in Florida, sure. But here, where we can see a 50 degree swing in temps from one day to the next, a single grade oil does not seem to make sense to me. I may be wrong on that, but there it is.

I made up a set of covers for the air intake and oil cooler passages as you did. When the temperature is below 40 deg, I install the smaller oil cooker covers. They generally stay on from the end of October through the winter. I install the air intake covers when the temp consistently falls below 30 deg. If I happen to be flying on an unusually warm winter or spring day, I’ll take them off. It only takes a couple of minutes.

I generally do not fly when the temp on the ground is below 20. There are exceptions, but very few. It’s just too uncomfortable for my old bones and, as my plane is even older than I am, figure he’s not to happy about being blasted with super cold air either. I worry about uneven cooling on the front cylinders and all the other nasty stuff that comes with cold air. I know others may pop on skis and fly whatever the temp is, but I don’t.

Cockpit wise, I keep my old grey Navy blanket in the back and cover up my legs to try to keep warm from the blast of air that leaks into the cockpit around the doors. Thank God the heater works as well as it does!

Mike

[6898]

Hi Mike good to hear a reply from you. Sorry I don't make it to your runway like I should you know life gets in the way. Yea just through a winter question out there see if I'm missing something. Hope to keep in touch with you. Jeff

[6930]

Hi Jeff....I didn't realize it was you! I should have figured it out...I mean, how many Jeff T's with 140's live in Sandwich?

Let me know when you come out to visit Mike next. I'll swing by and we can catch up!

Take care,

Mike

[8376]

For the plane (in Alaska non-hangered)
-Alaska Wing Covers for the the wings, elevators, engine, windscreen skylight
-Reiff Turbo XP preheat system (connects to all 4 cylinders and oil sump)
-Little buddy space heater (if I feel the need to preheat the cabin)
-Switch box mounted in an ammo can chained to my electrical connection at the spot
-Lower Cowl covers for the cooler days
-Tape the inner edge of the cowl as needed
-Wool Oil cover kit from wag aero as it gets cool
-Plug the blast tube leading to the oil temp gauge for more accurate temps
-Turn the prop a half dozen times by hand to get things moving prior to start-up

This set set up allows me to set an early morning alarm, send a text to get the preheat going, casually drink my coffee and wait for sunrise

For myself while flying and prepping the aircraft
-Good non-spill cup for my coffee
-Gloves (dealer's choice, my preference are wool inserts while flying)
-Carhartt Insulated overalls
-Boots (wool socks and preference towards the old Air Force Issues Mukluks with wool liners) they are plenty flexible to still feel the pedals. I have a size 12 foot so a bunny boot is a bit bulky.
-Always take the blanket and wing covers (never know where you will end up)
-Good survival kit (best case you are stuck where you landed intentionally, worst case you are stuck where you ended up unintentionally, remember if weather was bad enough to make you go down, it will delay your rescue as well).

This is my first winter flying the 140 but a prior member with a 120 who moved to the world of super cubs sat me down and ran me through the ideal set up. Be careful plugging to much of the engine check the temps aloft and look out for inversion layers.

[5422]

For the plane (in Alaska non-hangered)
-Alaska Wing Covers for the the wings, elevators, engine, windscreen skylight
-Reiff Turbo XP preheat system (connects to all 4 cylinders and oil sump)
-Little buddy space heater (if I feel the need to preheat the cabin)
-Switch box mounted in an ammo can chained to my electrical connection at the spot
-Lower Cowl covers for the cooler days
-Tape the inner edge of the cowl as needed
-Wool Oil cover kit from wag aero as it gets cool
-Plug the blast tube leading to the oil temp gauge for more accurate temps
-Turn the prop a half dozen times by hand to get things moving prior to start-up

This set set up allows me to set an early morning alarm, send a text to get the preheat going, casually drink my coffee and wait for sunrise

For myself while flying and prepping the aircraft
-Good non-spill cup for my coffee
-Gloves (dealer's choice, my preference are wool inserts while flying)
-Carhartt Insulated overalls
-Boots (wool socks and preference towards the old Air Force Issues Mukluks with wool liners) they are plenty flexible to still feel the pedals. I have a size 12 foot so a bunny boot is a bit bulky.
-Always take the blanket and wing covers (never know where you will end up)
-Good survival kit (best case you are stuck where you landed intentionally, worst case you are stuck where you ended up unintentionally, remember if weather was bad enough to make you go down, it will delay your rescue as well).

This is my first winter flying the 140 but a prior member with a 120 who moved to the world of super cubs sat me down and ran me through the ideal set up. Be careful plugging to much of the engine check the temps aloft and look out for inversion layers.

With this great post and the previous posts given there isn’t much more solid advice to convey.LOL Lots of good cold weather info. When I was younger I used to fly our 140 weekly even in the coldest months and had a blast.....now that I’m a bit older and have another plane that is wheel/ski equipped. I only fly the 140 once a month during winter. Even then if it’s 5 below zero I don’t fly either plane unless I really need to do something.
This previous post mentioned watch out for inversion layers. Might seem insignificant, but up here for instance many years ago flying north of Anchorage near Skwenta it was -15 F on the ground and +3 F at 1500 feet AGL. Pretty strong and albeit common inversion layer that makes shock cooling very real.
The only other thing I could touch on is controversial and well debated in cold weather general aviation ops. Keep in mind I’ve heard both sides and continental/Lycoming recommendations on prestart recommendations. Nearly 30 years ago a flight instructor went skitzo when I was pulling the 140’s prop through by hand. I explained that I was “limbering it up” two other nearby pilots (one with extensive arctic experience) jumped on the bandwagon and sat me down and said with a proper preheat that prop shouldn’t be turned till either the starter spins it or a arm swings it for purpose of starting. They explained that when the engine is shut down there is a thin layer of oil on the cylinder walls. That oil helps the first rotation go easier during the start, as most engine wear occurs during initial start and warm up. By turning the prop through multiple times prior to or after preheat scrubs that oil off the cylinder walls creating more wear. If it shut down fine it’s gonna spin up fine on start.
Long story short, I’ve never pulled any propeller through prior to starting in cold weather (Im only talking horizontally opposed engines) and never had an issue. With a GOOD PREHEAT, priming and throttle setting the prop does its first turn just fine, and that goes for hand propping as well. So take it FWIW and have fun flying this winter!