Where is the dust cloud ?? Cannot see it...
The sky over my head is deep blue and the stars are night are bright...No reddish haze whatsoever.
certainly its up here well diluted at least at my latitude.
Last summer went to an airshow in Tripoli Libya with a Sukhoi 29 and 2 Extra 300's.
The whole week we had light thermal winds carrying...Sand. Not sand storms, but light winds depositing small amounts of sand over time everywhere...
No air filters fitted on Sukhois or Extra's. Nothing we could do about that but cover the air intakes in between flights and rinse the canopies taking care not to scratch them.
These conditions are encountered so often in North Africa and Gulf states, how come we don't hear anything about that more often ???
Anyone involved in maintenance in such an environment could say something ?
Back home, we gave a nice cleaning; Sand found its way in in every corner down to the fuel filters... We used water and shampoo for the exposed surfaces, gasoline and compressed air for engine bays, undercarriages and hinges.
A few ounces of Libyan sand left a brownish streak on the ground once the water and fuel had evaporated....
Lucky the piston engines we use have big bores (1 liter and more each), and big valves, but it does no good to them.
In Triopli I saw a few SF 260's Marchetti's piston singles flying every day, they use the same type Lycoming engine than the Extra 300's. I hope they are fitted with air filters, but what about the jets and helicopters turbines ?