Winter flying
 

Well the snow is starting to come so I ordered a set of skis today for the Kadet ( http://www.greathobbies.com/products...rod_id=JADS360 ) and was wondering some of the things a person needs to do for setting up the plane for winter flying.

Some of the things I was pondering are:

Run a higher nitro fuel- I'm burning 15% now, step up to 20 or 30%?
Go with a hotter plug- Using OS8 now, step up to an A3?
Larger battery capacity- Have 600 mah now, go up to a 1100 mah since capacity drops in cold temps
Some kind of heat shield for the front of engine cylinder?

How does the covering fair in cold temps? I have the plane covered in Ultacote, will it be brittle and break easy?

Any other things a person needs to address for winter flight that a person can think of.

thanks

flynte

RE: Winter flying
 

The First Thing I Make Sure I Have A warm Place To Go After The Flight.i Have A Kero Heater Or My Car.
I Keep The Same fuel.I use Started fluid to get the engine started.Just a tiny shot will do the trick to much and you can eather lock the engine.that is bad.Ijust put A fresh glow plug in. It can't Hurt To Keep the fuel In a warm place.
You may find that you will have more power because the engine is running on cold air so you will half to retune the engine.
Covering is not an issue.
Battery's,it is a good idea to keep the ship And transmitter in a warm place,you are right battery's hate cold.Have A field charger.
warm Hands Is A Big problem.some folks Use hunting gloves others have a bag to put there transmitter in.The antenna sticks out the one end and you put your hand in the other.I use gloves With The Bottoms Of The thumbs cut out.
just a point about skis.pick up your ship after a landing because i have seen planes leave skis on the runway after the first landing.Rember try not to walk on the field.A foot Print On The runway is bad.
Have fun and keep warm.You will ba a A 4 season flyer.

RE: Winter flying
 

I suggest "pre-heating" the engine. Take it from a heated environment, keep it in the heated car until you are ready to fly, then go fly. When the flight is over, unless you are going to fly again right away, put the plane back in the heated car.

Bring along some lighter fluid. You MAY need to give the engine a squirt of it to get it going. Be careful with this as it burns with almost no flame.

Make sure your batteries for the transmitter and receiver are charged up and take them off charge just before you head out to the field.

A pair of "fingerless" gloves comes in handy so you can use the transmitter better.

There are probably more things, but I haven't done any winter flying for "quite a while" :D

RE: Winter flying
 

What is this 'SNOW' you speak of?

And who, may I ask is the 'Winter' character....and why must he have special preparations made for flying?

RE: Winter flying
 

In Manitoba, if we wore fingerless gloves for too long, we would be fingerless.

RE: Winter flying
 

Ahh yes "danielsan" Fingerless gloves without fingers. It's like those wool head bandana's that skiers wear to keep their ears warm. they're like a hat with a hole in it.--pointless.

RE: Winter flying
 

When I lived in INdiana, all I did was wrap the fuel tank and batteries so they retained heat.
I also blocked most of the cooling airflow to the engine.
Other than that, keeping your hands warm is the hardest thing to do.

RE: Winter flying
 

Hello; We fly year round here on the wet coast, our winter is nothing like yours in Wainright, but the biggest problem is keeping warm. The plane doesn't seem to mind the lower temperatures, no covering worries. I think that methanol won't vaporize below -20C, so the lighter fluid trick would help get you going on those colder days. Don't forget your sunglasses, lots of extra glare off the white stuff. Have fun.

RE: Winter flying
 

Ooooo. I like those aluminum skis. I have DuBro plastic and they hold up fairly well. I keep spare gear set with skis for two of my planes so I only have to remove four bolts and can swap from wheels to skis without reattaching and tensioning the springs & torque rods.

http://www2.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin...?&I=LXWH30&P=7

One of the guys in our club laminates his own out of thin ply veneers and they look great on his vintage biplanes.

Don't up the nitro. That would make the engine run cooler. The nitro lowers the combustion temp so an engine can run leaner and therefore faster.

Cold air is heavier, you'll have plenty of power as the prop has more to "bite".

Plastic coverings get brittle, but should not be a problem. Don't drop anything on a wing (I learned that the hard way). The covering splits with a "BANG".

Skis don't stop as well as wheels on grass. Allow for at least 2X the landing run on snow.

Definitely look into the "glommits" or other fingerless gloves. I've got about four pairs kicking around. Get a hat with ear flaps or some ear muffs - regardless to how they look it is a great comfort when you're hands are busy flying. A poly scarf, too. Looking up the wind goes down your neck. Sunglasses definitely. Polarized even better.

Keep an eye on the batteries. They seem to have less staying power in the cold.

Bring coffee and hot chili.

RE: Winter flying
 

I flew today at about 19*F with a light wind. It was cold on the backs of the hands but warming them with the truck vents works great. The plane ran and flew perfectly. Starts are not a problems at all. I keep the plane inside the truck untill I'm ready to fuel and fly then after tuning it (don't forget it will need to be richened some from warm weather tune) it'll run like a top. The plane starts again just fine after sitting for 20 minutes or so while you warm your fingers. Another thing that is helpful is to have some of those chemical pocket sized hand warmers handy for in between flying and fueling.

RE: Winter flying
 

I was wondering if a small one of those would help keep the reciever battery charged longer? I know that it adds a little weight, but it may help.

Just my 2 cents (3 with inflation ;) )

Jon

RE: Winter flying
 

Thanks for the replies. The only thing I should have to aquire will be some of those handwarmers. The skis should be here on Monday so I can get them installed and the plane rebalanced.

thanks

flynte

RE: Winter flying
 

Try this. It works great
http://rcmitt.com/

RE: Winter flying
 

It won't be long now.The coldest I flew in was 8 deg.The plane and motor had no problem at all.Stopping is the problem.

RE: Winter flying
 

I feel you guys pain, I had to wear a jacket to the field Saturday morning till the sun warmed things up out of the 50's. [8D]:D

RE: Winter flying
 

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...wouldhelp1.jpg

Single digit temperatures build character.

Actually it was a balmy January 1st when this was taken. Note the towels over the engine and flight box to keep the SLEET off things. Ugh.

Got deicers?

RE: Winter flying
 

this might sound dumb but I had a very xxtra large sweat shirt I would use cut a small hole for the antenna to stick out and cut the pockets so I could get to the sticks sure keep
the ole digits from going numb

RE: Winter flying
 

Well the skis showed up.. and were going in ! The temp is falling..but the wind is climbing [:@]It fiqures, bought a 13hp snowblower last year and it didn't really snow till March.[:o]
But will get the skis on the Kadet and if it can hold on the snow I will get the Decathlon up for a madian :)

flynte

RE: Winter flying
 

What kind of skis are those?? They look way cooler than the Du-Bros I just bought:(

RE: Winter flying
 

The only thing I change is how I dress for winter flying

RE: Winter flying
 

Hey Flynte,

Do those skis have runners/blades underneath? That's one thing I wish the DuBros had. I've had crosswinds take my slab-sided & large ruddered SK-50 sideways across the snow if it's crusty. The tail wheel catches and suddenly you're pointing downwind with no brakes!

They look pretty jazzie! Keep us posted.

RE: Winter flying
 

Charlie P- They have two runners on each ski, you can kinda see it formed in the ski

AKFireMedic- they are Jay Dee skis. I have a link to them on my first post. These are for 60 size planes. They make them for all sizes thou

flynte

RE: Winter flying
 

Got the skis on tonite...not sure of what AOA to put on them, so I went with this (pics). The CG ended to the aft limit without changing anything, so with taking on a 1lb of fuel on full I left it as is. The plane is 8lb 13oz empty. It was late so I didn't get to put the plane in the snow tonite to see how the skis support the wieght. But just looking at it, I think I will have to have a good hard pack for a runway.

What do you guys think?

flynte

RE: Winter flying
 

looks good.

I know i read somewhere about skis and what angle they should be put at. Don't remember where though. I know that if they are not quite right they can make for a pretty hairy flight. I would say see if you can find some pics of full scale plans with skis in the air and see what the angle is

RE: Winter flying
 

His look good. Tipped slightly up. That's the way I set them up. They're designed with the pivot ahead of the CLR so the wind striking the low rear tends to level them out in flight. Tipped down is bad. The more air they catch the worse they tip. Drag brakes. And you'll also catch every depression in the snow when landing and taking off. Tipped up you can even almost occasionally sometimes get over a boot track without sinking it and stalling the prop in the snow.

Yell at anyone who tries to walk directly out and retrieve a model on the runway. Better to walk along the edge or the long way around so you keep the main strip ontrodden.