I have 2 OS engines, 65 LA and a 55 AX. I have flown both in 20's and the 30's. I was told by a hobby dealer today that if I fly in temps below 50 that I will wear the engines out. He said when the warmer temps come, the engine will not idle after it gets hot. He said and ABC engine will do that. I thought I could fly year round, but I am not sure now. Any comments?

You can absolutely fly them in cold weather without damaging the engines. Trust me, there are plenty of people on here that live "up north" that fly year round. And they don't damage their engines. The only thing you will need to do is retune them a bit. The guy at your LHS is a bit full of it!!

Ken

Ok, I understand the point - under 50* the metal is contracted and therefore a tighter seal, so you're wearing away metal that you wouldn't otherwise be doing in warmer temperatures. Whether or not this is true depends on the design of the engine and the tolerances. I would hope that the designers understand that these things will be used in sub-50* weather, and design the tolerances and alloys accordingly.

Now, I live in Vermont and we fly in sub 50* weather for like at least half the season, and have 'chili fun flies' off frozen lake champlain. No one has complained about engines losing compression while doing so. I"ve also been obsessively glued to this forum since last winter and have heard of no such thing as not using engines in the cold.

I know there are tons of guys who will read this and laugh, who live in colder states and use torches and lighter fluid 'cause it's too cold to start the engines otherwise.

Use the right lubrication and a hotter plug

What the others have said. We fly year round here, winter temps can be 0 - 10 degrees at noon. The engines can be hard to start and a little more problematic in the winter, but no one has ruined their engine because of the cold. Just use a good fuel with the correct oil for your engine and allow it to warm up before you fly and you'll be fine. Your hobby dealer is doing you a dis-service.
Paul

I have never heard this before, boy you hear new stuff all the time. Then if we flew on the sun they would last forever!!!!!!

With the temps our engines run at , they even have to heat up a lot even when its 80 degrees out. Don't think a little colder is going to make much difference, engines are going to wear out. I think a lean run or cheap fuel would be worse than cold weather.
enjoy what you got, they make new engines everyday!!!!!

Let me guess.... the person at your LHS is a 16 year old dork who doesn't know squat about airplanes or engines isn't he? I say that because that's what works at one of the LHS's around here and they say the same sorts of stupid things. The really absurd part is the 50 degree figure. Even in my relatively moderate area that would eliminate a lot of flying time if it were true. The people who build engines make them to work as best possible in the varied conditions in which people actually fly.

When the weather cools off, go a few clicks richer and fly. Extreme cold climates may require a little more effort to start a cold engine but there are plenty of people who do that successfully all the time.

In fact the cool, dense air is great to fly in.

I fly in -1/-2 Celsius not so long ago (first flight and that is cold for Ireland) and it ran perfect. engine was a bit harder to start...the glow starters on battery didn't work so just wired it into the power panel and it started first time with the extra power. once engine warmed up it ran without a glitch

You guys that fly at freezing,,what do you wear on your hands?...I know fuel on the hands in chilly weather is coooooolldd!..just curious?..Rog

sorry, but I can't resist, did he also tell you that while flying the wind chill will cause your engine to freeze up and your plane will fall out of the sky?
the main thing is that in order for your engine to run correctly, is that it reaches a certain "internal temp", hence the good previous advice on good fuel, letting engine warm up, retuning the engine and hotter glow plug. cold air will not cause extra wear.

it aint often as cold as -1/-2 here but recently the cold weather front and frost is moving in here. Hands were freezing but i bought a set of fingerless gloves and it worked brill the next time i flew. the weather here is usually about 8-9degrees most of the year! with the odd week or two of warm weather

flyinrog:
I was thinking about one of these, read on a post somewhere here that they do work

http://www.horizonhobby.com/Products...?ProdID=NOHTM1

I used to live in Virginia....I was a all weather flier 3 times over...never had to do anything with my engines except tune a bit...
the best thing I did to keep my hands warm was a cheap pair of cotten gloves @ bucks a pair.....cut off the thumbs and fingers

I fly mostly 1/2A so gloves are more important, my flights are 3-5 minutes long, but I always end up getting fuel on my hands, the fingerless ones may help, but I will admit I am a cold weather wuss....Rog

I have really thin windresistant gloves that i can still feel the transmitter through. Then I have big mitts that I wear when not flying. Easiest way to keep your hands warm is to keep the rest of your body toasty.

I got a thin pair of cotton gloves - for a Haloween costume actually[&:] and after the holiday cut just the bottom of the thumb tips off (I fly with thumbs only). I used them in November in Vermont; it was cold enough for me to warrant gloves, and they worked very well. Of course if you get cotton wet and it's all over. If it gets cold enough for something like that not to work, it's too cold for me to be flying. It's about enjoyment, not standing and freezing and slow moving thumbs controlling ~$1000 aircraft setup.

thanks, its in the 20's here which is unseasonbly cold here, should be fourty's...but I havent flown in so long and have like 5 planes to maiden....Rog

Here is an odd question. I have seen guys with unlimited vertical try to to in a cloud. If you did that in winter; Do you think ice would build up on the leading edges and disturpt the smooth flow of air and cause a crash;just like a full scale. I wonder if you servos would freeze if it got cold enough I just thought about that when I was reading

I love to fly in the Winter. There probably is a little more wear on the engine during cold weather start-up. I guess if you were really worried about it you could put a few drops of after run oil in through the glow plug hole prior to start-up to give the cylinder a little extra lubrication. Personally, I'm more concerned about my batteries than my engine. It seems that if I'm having problems during cold weather it's usually battery related. I wear the therma-flex gloves (Ace hardware, about $7) and I still have enough feel to tune the high-end needle and feel the sticks and trims. How cold is too cold? When your breath freezes in your beard it's almost too cold to fly.

Gee I live in Michigan and I don't have a beard, so how do I know when it is too cold . I fly probably 3 times a week during the winter. In fact getting ready to go now temp. 14* Tiger 60 on skis. Oh, I do have a mongo mit to keep my pinkies warm. Really never had a problem flying in the winter. I use all 6v RX 2500mAh and 2500 mAh TX.

If you spit and it freezes before it hits the ground it's too cold for spitting and almost too cold for flying.

Hey I can spit. Give it a try today. I go skiing in your great state every year. Breckenridge mostly, sometime vail and copper.

I remember the back bowl at Vail has some awesome powder, but it's been a lot of years since I skied there. Still waiting on the snow down here in the SW part of the state where I live. I'm itching to try flying off snow on the set of foam floats I made for my Tiger Trainer 60. This is the worst time of the year for flying around here. Too much mud at the club field and not enough snow in my pasture. Have fun.

I have a 60 acre hay field across the driveway and I fly alot there. Can run back in the house to get warm. I have a SeaDancer with a mag. 91 4 stroke love to fly it off the snow. Ulta stick on floats as well.

Sounds like a lot of fun. I want to get my Big Stik 60 on floats as well. I think I'll break down and buy some floats from seaplane supply this time. My homemade floats work pretty well but they came out a little on the heavy side.... about 2.5 lbs. with all the rigging. C'mon snow!!

I'm leaving soon to go flying, it will be around 30 where I'm going, maybe 40? Only difference for us flying from 100 to the 30s is we have to open up the high end about 4 clicks and after we get the buggers running then we have to run them at about 4000 rpm for A little bit to get them warmed up. I think maybe your local guru is smoking his hooka A bit too often! No problem with wearing out an engine in the cold. I used to fly A lot when I lived on A mountain and the engines are still in fine shape.