Warmer weather engine performance
 

All

Today I departed early to fly to a strip to carry out a load of maintenance that needed doing under the watchful eye of an inspector.

I departed at 0830 hrs local and was there until 1530 hrs when I departed after the maintenance had been completed.

On departure I must say I was amazed at the performance difference with the OAT being 22 degrees where I was. I was away last week when you were all in the high twenties and have not flown in anything above 16 degrees since last summer.

Having taken off in windless 22 degree conditions I really noticed the performance on take off difference.

Once airborne and into cooler air with a decent wind to climb into the performance level was more like I have been used to at ground level.

The only purpose of this post/thread is to ask all to be aware of the rising pressure/temperatures and dropping winds. Those spamcans are suddenly going to handle very differently at lower levels.

Hope this helps....:ok:

A timely reminder Monocock.

Many years ago a friend of mine had flown a PA28-140 into a private strip over the winter months. He was a cautious lad so, as the strip was short, he'd carefully worked out his distances and performance for the first few trips.

By the time the summer came he'd got complacent with regular visits. Come one day the temp was +22C, there wasn't any wind and he was a tad heavier than usual with fuel. The aircraft didn't make it - it went through the fence at the far end, lost both wings but, luckily, it didn't catch fire.

I picked them up a few hours later, still very white, and his good lady refused to get on board. I don't think she flew in a light aircraft again..

This kind of relates to the above............

Yesterday I went up at around 0900 with a small amount of haze, and was led to believe that as the day goes on and the temperature/pressure increases, the haze would get worse. Now I was of the understanding that as the temperature decreases, the dew point may be reached, and therefore lead to more haze/mist etc - so how does this work? Is it because the higher the temperature/pressure the more moisture the air can hold?

Sorry for the hi-jack, it's kinda related to summer flying conditions :=

Maz