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Mauledriver(at)nc.rr.com
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 Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:41 am Post subject: First ice of the season and why a heated pitot is nice |
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Just thought I'd share...
Monday a week ago, when the storm hit NY/NJ/CT, I had the pleasure of
flying from Key West home to NC.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/60509998/FlightAware%20%E2%9C%88%20N215TG%20%E2%9C%88%2029-Oct-2012%20%E2%9C%88%20KEYW%20-%20KSOP.htm
The weather was interesting in that I don't think I've ever flown for 5
hours in a single low pressure system. The barometric pressure at
takeoff was 29.xx and steadily sunk by 2 or 3 tenths every ATC handoff
until landing. And I was still well short of the stormy center. The
winds were strong from 3,000' up to 10 at 40+ knots but they were the
same speed the whole way up and they didn't change by more than 5 knots
for the whole trip. That's a big fat low.
In the keys we had fair weather cu but from FL thru GA there wasn't a
cloud in the sky. Somewhere over SC cu formed below, solidified, and
slowly rose to meet us at 10k. Temps at 10k were above freezing all day
but as we started to hit the layers the temps were coming down and I
noticed a few glazed drops on the wing's top surface. I was checking
the leading edge for any build up but didn't see any.
One of the first accessories I purchased for the '10 was the Gretz
heated pitot. It seemed to be a well designed product now available to
me because I'm 'experimental'. It had been installed for 4 years when I
finally put power to it. It seemed to work but there's no easy way to
confirm it's exact operation. However, a subsequent inspection showed
that the thermoplastic exterior had melted and the fuse had blown. The
pitot function was still there but heating was clearly not available. I
flew like this for quite awhile weighing my options. Since purchasing
the unit, the Gretz product had been sold to Angus Aviation in Australia.
http://www.angusaviation.com/HeatedPitot/tabid/608/language/en-US/Default.aspx
hmmm.
After several conversations with Andrew Leopold at Angus, he convinced
me the only way to fix this was to send him the unit. Taking the pitot
off and sending to Oz basically put the plane offline unless a
substitute pitot was fabricated. So I went back to the Vans 1.0 pitot
design with a little hacking and sent the unit off.
It came back a couple of weeks ago. I learned 1) sending small stuff
like a heated pitot unit to Oz is surprisingly fast, cheap and easy via
1st class mail, 2) Andrew is a class act, he fixed it and made me whole,
3) I'm real glad I had a heated pitot last week...
So, I'm flying along looking for leading edge ice and watching the
indicator lights on the pitot flash on and off. It slowly dawns on me
that the plane is slowing down. I've lost about 15 knots indicated! A
closer inspection of the leading edge shows that I've got a pretty good
layer of rime on the leading edge. I ask for and get lower. I'm able
to Pirep the icing and the freezing level at 6k ("what's that noise?"
"that's ice baby, I think we're shedding ice off the prop").
So we land at KSOP, aka the land of golf courses. Twenty five knot
crosswind, blustery, rain, dark, etc. I ask for gas, wearing my
sunglasses, sandals and T-shirt, wondering why everyone is so
overdressed. Wait, I'm the one that is underdressed! One of the
surprising joys of IFR flight.
I don't know what an iced up pitot would do to my AP guided machine but
it would not be good I assume (does anyone know?). I know I REALLY like
the Gretz unit now that it works properly. It's just another completely
automated device that I only need to monitor. It periodically heats up
and shuts off as the temp drops. I notice that the electrical load,
like any heated pitot, is substantial when it's heating but it only
heats to the extent it needs to which is a good thing if your electrical
system is at or near full capacity. No more burns during preflight. No
more having to remember to turn it on. And no more eye pokes from the
high wing installation on my old Maule... I'm a low wing guy now.
So, with all this talk about options, I would highly recommend a heated
pitot and the Gretz unit in particular. Certainly for any IFR work but
also for VFR unless you only go traveling short distances on sunny
days. The '10 is an amazingly nice traveling machine that likes to go
high and long. Yes, I flew slightly over 5 hours with only 60 gallons
on board and I still had almost an hour of low power endurance left -
far less than I would ever plan for or depend on but enough when high
over VFR airports over familiar territory dotted with available fueling
spots. At 10k I'm burning less that 10GPH with WOT the whole way. LOP
of course.
What a storm. After fueling up I flew VFR under the clouds home to
8NC8. I was tired, it was dark, and Sandy was intensifying every mile
we flew north. ATC was more than helpful as I garbled almost
everything said and screwed up a vector to get around RDU. I had to do
a crosswind, downhill night landing on our little grass carrier deck.
It's much easier to do in the '10 than my old lightly loaded tailwheel
Maule. A very satisfying end to a great trip. The '10 is sweet plane!
So, put a heated pitot on it if you plan to fly it seriously.
Does anyone have some thoughts on what could be done to make leading
edge icing more easily visible from the cockpit? I have a white wing
and was thinking that a patch of paint or something might make ice
easier to detect but I don't know. Thanks for any suggestions.
Bill "glad the damn election is almost over so we can get on with
things" Watson
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dave.saylor.aircrafters(a
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| Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 10:58 am Post subject: First ice of the season and why a heated pitot is nice |
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I've seen a little rime on my grey metallic painted wings. It was pretty evident, and so light I didn't notice any performance decrease. We could see it on the windshield, too. We were in and out of the tops of clouds so we had plenty of light. I think you're right though, white wouldn't show the ice nearly as well.
Dave Saylor
831-750-0284 CL
On Tue, Nov 6, 2012 at 10:40 AM, Bill Watson <Mauledriver(at)nc.rr.com (Mauledriver(at)nc.rr.com)> wrote:
[quote] --> RV10-List message posted by: Bill Watson <Mauledriver(at)nc.rr.com (Mauledriver(at)nc.rr.com)>
Just thought I'd share...
Monday a week ago, when the storm hit NY/NJ/CT, I had the pleasure of flying from Key West home to NC.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/60509998/FlightAware%20%E2%9C%88%20N215TG%20%E2%9C%88%2029-Oct-2012%20%E2%9C%88%20KEYW%20-%20KSOP.htm
The weather was interesting in that I don't think I've ever flown for 5 hours in a single low pressure system. The barometric pressure at takeoff was 29.xx and steadily sunk by 2 or 3 tenths every ATC handoff until landing. And I was still well short of the stormy center. The winds were strong from 3,000' up to 10 at 40+ knots but they were the same speed the whole way up and they didn't change by more than 5 knots for the whole trip. That's a big fat low.
In the keys we had fair weather cu but from FL thru GA there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Somewhere over SC cu formed below, solidified, and slowly rose to meet us at 10k. Temps at 10k were above freezing all day but as we started to hit the layers the temps were coming down and I noticed a few glazed drops on the wing's top surface. I was checking the leading edge for any build up but didn't see any.
One of the first accessories I purchased for the '10 was the Gretz heated pitot. It seemed to be a well designed product now available to me because I'm 'experimental'. It had been installed for 4 years when I finally put power to it. It seemed to work but there's no easy way to confirm it's exact operation. However, a subsequent inspection showed that the thermoplastic exterior had melted and the fuse had blown. The pitot function was still there but heating was clearly not available. I flew like this for quite awhile weighing my options. Since purchasing the unit, the Gretz product had been sold to Angus Aviation in Australia.
http://www.angusaviation.com/HeatedPitot/tabid/608/language/en-US/Default.aspx
hmmm.
After several conversations with Andrew Leopold at Angus, he convinced me the only way to fix this was to send him the unit. Taking the pitot off and sending to Oz basically put the plane offline unless a substitute pitot was fabricated. So I went back to the Vans 1.0 pitot design with a little hacking and sent the unit off.
It came back a couple of weeks ago. I learned 1) sending small stuff like a heated pitot unit to Oz is surprisingly fast, cheap and easy via 1st class mail, 2) Andrew is a class act, he fixed it and made me whole, 3) I'm real glad I had a heated pitot last week...
So, I'm flying along looking for leading edge ice and watching the indicator lights on the pitot flash on and off. It slowly dawns on me that the plane is slowing down. I've lost about 15 knots indicated! A closer inspection of the leading edge shows that I've got a pretty good layer of rime on the leading edge. I ask for and get lower. I'm able to Pirep the icing and the freezing level at 6k ("what's that noise?" "that's ice baby, I think we're shedding ice off the prop").
So we land at KSOP, aka the land of golf courses. Twenty five knot crosswind, blustery, rain, dark, etc. I ask for gas, wearing my sunglasses, sandals and T-shirt, wondering why everyone is so overdressed. Wait, I'm the one that is underdressed! One of the surprising joys of IFR flight.
I don't know what an iced up pitot would do to my AP guided machine but it would not be good I assume (does anyone know?). I know I REALLY like the Gretz unit now that it works properly. It's just another completely automated device that I only need to monitor. It periodically heats up and shuts off as the temp drops. I notice that the electrical load, like any heated pitot, is substantial when it's heating but it only heats to the extent it needs to which is a good thing if your electrical system is at or near full capacity. No more burns during preflight. No more having to remember to turn it on. And no more eye pokes from the high wing installation on my old Maule... I'm a low wing guy now.
So, with all this talk about options, I would highly recommend a heated pitot and the Gretz unit in particular. Certainly for any IFR work but also for VFR unless you only go traveling short distances on sunny days. The '10 is an amazingly nice traveling machine that likes to go high and long. Yes, I flew slightly over 5 hours with only 60 gallons on board and I still had almost an hour of low power endurance left - far less than I would ever plan for or depend on but enough when high over VFR airports over familiar territory dotted with available fueling spots. At 10k I'm burning less that 10GPH with WOT the whole way. LOP of course.
What a storm. After fueling up I flew VFR under the clouds home to 8NC8. I was tired, it was dark, and Sandy was intensifying every mile we flew north. ATC was more than helpful as I garbled almost everything said and screwed up a vector to get around RDU. I had to do a crosswind, downhill night landing on our little grass carrier deck. It's much easier to do in the '10 than my old lightly loaded tailwheel Maule. A very satisfying end to a great trip. The '10 is sweet plane!
So, put a heated pitot on it if you plan to fly it seriously.
Does anyone have some thoughts on what could be done to make leading edge icing more easily visible from the cockpit? I have a white wing and was thinking that a patch of paint or something might make ice easier to detect but I don't know. Thanks for any suggestions.
Bill "glad the damn election is almost over so we can get on with things" Watson
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Jim Berry
Joined: 10 Jan 2006
Posts: 237
Location: Denver
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| Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2012 7:10 pm Post subject: Re: First ice of the season and why a heated pitot is nice |
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Leading edge ice shows up great on my Lamborghini purple wing.
Jim Berry
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