High Ambient Temperature Flying

[Pilgrim101]

Advice or opinions please on the types of Single and Twin Light Aircraft best suited to high - c50 Deg C - temperatures for ab initio training. Any views on mods required to bog standard aircraft to fly safely in dusty, very hot climates. Also looking at three axis and trike microlights with Rotax or Jabiru packs and Powered parachutes. No Al Qaeda connections - honest enquiry !:D :D :ok:

[Tinstaafl]

Make sure it has good filters & gets very, very frequent oil & filter changes.

Use a/c that have a few more seats than you need. Just don't put any bums on them eg a C172 but limit to 2 POB, or a 6 seat twin limited to 2 POB etc

You could consider turbcharged a/c. Cost more to run though. Another alternative is a turbo-normalised engine. You could anticipate non-turbo TBOs to be specified instead of the usually reduced TBOs for boosted engines.

There was a thread about this quite a while ago in another forum (Flying Instructors?). Do a search & see if it's still available.

[Pilotage]

Don't bother thinking about Jabiru engined trikes, or for that matter any other pusher. They don't cool well in a pusher configuration, and you obviously need that capability. Plus, for hot-high you want a fair bit of thrust, so I'd look at a Rotax 912 or 912s, which will give rather more power than the Jabiru (whatever the data sheets say).

The 912 is an incredibly rugged and reliable engine, with the advantage that it can be configured with both radiator and oil cooler, which should adequately meet your needs.

Good trikes... Mainair Blade 912 and 912s heavy to fly but ignores turbulence, reasonably good cruise, and reasonably agricultural so easy to care for. It's main UK competitor is the Quantum 912, lighter to fly, responds more to turbulence, a bit more refined. There's a similar French equivalent with slightly better lifting capacity but otherwise much the same to fly as the Quantum, which is the Air Creation Buggy with KISS-450 wing.

If you want something a bit faster and have enough (500m+ in a hot-high environment) runway to allow for it there are two other British trikes, both fairly refined and with a fastish (60-70kn as opposed to 45-55kn for the Blade and Quantum) cruise, again both using 912 variant powerplants. One is the new Pegasus Quik - which is pretty much cutting edge at the moment, the other is the Raven (EclipseR) 912. The latter is better in turbulent / thermic conditions as well as being a few grand cheaper, the former is much more refined with a better speed range.

Pretty much all these modern high performance trikes cost around UK£20, but if you are on a budget most of the manufacturers will have a 2-stroke (Rotax 503-2V or 582) equivalent for around £12-£16k.


3-axis. I'm guessing you want shortish field, good lifting capability, and 2-place dual controls. I'd also suggest you want to avoid fabric coverings in the desert since they'll UV degrade chronically and aren't as easy to bag-up and store out of the sun as a trike. For the same (UV degredation) reasons I'd have thought avoiding composites would be a sound move.

Try the Czech Aircraft Works Zenair CH701 (or the Italian ICP MXP740 Savannah which is basically a direct copy) for 912 or Jabiru engined STOL capability at £20-£30k. For a bit more cruise performance at around £30k but less STOL two Czech aeroplanes, the Eurostar or the Czech Aircraft Works Zenair CH601 should both give you nice touring (80kn) aeroplanes that'll operate happily in the hot/high environment from a 700-1000m runway quite happily.

One exception to what I said, is the X'Air, an easy to fly, slow, dirt-cheap Indian tube and fabric aeroplane. Buy them direct from Raj-Hamsa in India and you should be paying under £10k per flying aeroplane. Go for the Rotax 582 engine and C or E type gearbox + a decent (3.47 or 4) gearset to keep the propeller tipspeeds down. Expect to scrap the engine and sails every 600 hours or so in that environment, but at about £3000 for engine and sails together that's not too bad per hour. Alterntively the 2.2 litre Jabiru seems to work well on that airframe so long as you pitch the prop to keep the RPM constantly below 3000. Personally I wouldn't both with a 912 on an X'Air it doesn't need the power and won't go much faster, or with the newer X'Air F, the flaps are totally unnecessary.

That help at-all?

P

[Pilgrim101]

Thanks very much both - great start for us to look seriously at the implications of our recreational flying plans in the wide sand coloured yonder :ok:

[mutt]

Pilgrim101,

Whatever you get I sincerely hope that it comes with a humongous air-conditioning system. :):)

The Jeddah Aviation club recently started operating Hungarian Rotex powered trikes, try emailing them at [email protected] they should be able to tell you the pros and cons of using the rotex in this environment.

Is recreational aviation permitted in Kuwait? Or are you hoping that it will be?

Mutt.

[Pilgrim101]

Thanks Mutt,

Plan is to kit up for the Emirates (RAK) and get some friends there to do all the paperwork with some local "wasta" ! Kuwait is a brilliant area for flying and the people are great fun here, but could be a while before private flying catches on, more's the pity. Also. lots of Patriot, Starburst and "Amoun" batteries still here !

Air Conditioning is for wimps - its only 44 Deg C today. I fly an unheated 2 seater in the UK whenever I get back and everything is relative Eh ? :D

:ok:

[mutt]

RAK is a great place to fly out of, I've flown the Aeroprakt A20 out of there, it also helps that theres a wonderful little "off licence" right beside it!

As for the AirCon, guess that I'm a wimp :):). I've just taken up paragliding in Jeddah, beautiful sport provided that you start at sunrise.

Good Luck with the project.


Mutt

[Pilgrim101]

Thanks Mutt

We'll keep you posted. My Paramotor is still "confiscated" here in the Science Club so will retrieve it on exit. Any flying is good flying though and if it involves leaping off a 2 metre sand dune strapped to a lawnmower engine then so be it !

Jeddah sounds good, nice beaches and quite relaxed from what I remember there. Drove everal times from from Jedda to Sharourah, via Taif, Nejran and then back via Khamis Mushayt and Abha - spectacular and very nice people. Went to a small aerodrome on the Sharra Gayr Muslimeen (non muslim) road skirting Mecca and wonder if it is still there ? Had a Pawnee and a few Pipers etc but didn't see too much flying going on. Didn't even ask for a cabby, being so close to Mecca might have been too troublesome for the very friendly people at the field there.

Problem in the UK when I go back is that I have a narrow window of opportunity and the weather is invariably crap; out here the weather is superb but, no aeroplanes :{

Tinstaafl,

""""Use a/c that have a few more seats than you need. Just don't put any bums on them eg a C172 but limit to 2 POB, or a 6 seat twin limited to 2 POB etc""""""

Thanks for your advice too, but all my friends out here are itinerant bums !;)

And they are beginning to look pretty, scars an' all :{