Temperatures acceptable for equipment while flying.....?

[Earl Haury]

Chris

I pretty much agree with Karl, Chad, & Eric. The balsa foam airplane may change trim, depending on the linkage, hard to tell just what will happen with the composites. Batteries are the biggest concern. When I lived where it got cold I would test airborne radio systems in the freezer at 0F. About 25% of the servos simply quit working - everything else seemed OK. As the most volatile fuel component has a flash point (makes flammable vapors) of +50F, engine starting is a problem. As Karl mentions, lighter fluid (couple of drops) helps. My record for cold flight is -6F, but the best solution I've found is moving south - been in the upper 70's in Houston all week.

Earl
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Karl G. Mueller 
  To: discussion at nsrca.org 
  Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 8:53 AM
  Subject: Re: Temperatures acceptable for equipment while flying.....?


  Chris,

  Extreme cold and ultra violet rays will make most plastics more brittle.
  You will not get as much power out of your batteries as would in warmer
  weather.
  In the years when we were running the .60 size engines we would use
  Lighter Fluid to get the engines started. 
  Now I just don't go out any more in the cold weather. It does not get as cold
  around here (Toronto.Ontario) as it does out west. They were having -35 Cº
  with a wind chill  to - 45 Cº.  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
  You wont stay outside longer than you have too at these temps.

  Karl G. Mueller
  kgamueller at rogers.com



    ----- Original Message ----- 
    From: White, Chris 
    To: discussion at nsrca.org 
    Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 8:05 AM
    Subject: Temperatures acceptable for equipment while flying.....?


    Hi,

    Hey, I was out flying on Christmas Eve in OK and it was about 22 degrees.....  I spent extra time warming the YS at idle, but thoughts were crossing my mind about how bad the cold weather is on our equipment (nylon components etc....) .  I'm sure the guys up North have limits on cold temps and I'd be interested to hear your concerns or special cares.

    I'm running a balsa/foam airplane, YS140 Sport (30% CP Heli fuel), and a JR PCM 10X with Digitals and Nimh batteries.

    Thanks for your feedback....!
    Chris White 
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