For anyone that's interested, my buddy Dave and I started our cold weather season today with JetCat p-120's one on his HotSpot and the other in my Compo Bandit. It was 19F this morning and got up to a scorching 32F at noon with light snow showers!

We've been flying in cold weather for a couple of years now and have found:

--JetCats run well down to at least 20F

--PowerMax vaporization is poor below 32F. We keep ours warm in the car, near the heater output until just before lighting off, and then it is fine.

--Spool up is slower due to thick residual kero and oil in the engine. I have been doing a JetCat "airstart" on my Bandit. I stick in my Makita Blower into the right side intake and let her blow while I initiate the auto start. It then spools up fast, but you must have the powermax setting at 100% to get a "pop"/I ordinarily only need about 70% in warm weather.

--performance is spectacular. I am guessing that full throttle output is approaching 30 lbs. Just pull the Bandit or HotSpot off, up the gear and go unlimited 90 degree vertical like right now.

--keep the kero/oil in a warm car unless you are fueling. Save a load on the JetCat fuel pump, cuz the stuff does thicken below 32F.

--By the way, an AMT Merc also performs well at these low temps, although, once again, the propane must be kept warm to get any kind of vaporization.

--Charge everything after every flight, since Nicad capacity drops off quite a bit below 40F.


Tom