Hi there,

For the all seasoned flyer's; does anyone has problems when flying in freezing temperatures? I just read Tom Antlfinger's maiden flight with his friend's Compo Bandid at very low temp's and I remembered my cold day flying experiences. (By the way, congrats's Tom, first flights are always exciting!)

Normally my homebuilt KJ-66's are very reliable and safe performers and when it's not freezing I like to fly them a lot. (And that's very often in Holland!) In the beginning of my turbine experience , back in 1995, I had some problems and unexplainable flame-outs when flying in freezing conditions and decided never to fly again when temperatures are below 3 degrees Celsius. (At that time I also did not use any ECU!) This is also better for the ABS components on the airframe which can become quiet brittle and fragile at those low temp's. Also the propane starting gas bottle doesn't have to be warmed before the start. I did some checks on water contamination and couldn't find anything. (As an aircraft maintenance engineer I have access to some reliable water detectors.) As Holland can have a quiet moisty environment I thought about icing the engine's inlet but this should be very unlikely?

Reading Tom's flight I supposed that many jet jockeys have more freezing day's than I have and still would like to fly a lot. So please tell me, just out of curiosity , how are your experiences?

Gerald Rutten.