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

[Lance Van Nostrand]

Tom,
Thanks for the mixture suggestion.  I found that the one time I tried this 
my engine would quit in the air at idle.  Can the engine cool down enough to 
just stop?  I'm flying a 2 stroke on 10%, maybe higher nitro would heat 
things up?
--Lance

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tom Simes" <nsrca at shinymetalass.com>
To: <discussion at nsrca.org>
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2005 9:54 AM
Subject: Re: Temperatures acceptable for equipment while flying.....?


> On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 07:05:19 -0600
> "White, Chris" <chris at ssd.fsi.com> wrote:
>
>> 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 a complete pattern newbie, but I live in Anchorage Alaska and I've
> been practicing the sportsman sequence all winter long with my Somethin'
> Extra on skis.  Probably half of the time the temperature has been in
> the single digits (F).  My plane is built up balsa, so I can't speak to
> the composite fuselage dimension changes but about the only effects I
> have noticed on the equipment are the engine is harder to start
> initially and both the idle and high speed mixtures needed to be
> enriched a tad.  I'm running 6V 1100 mAh NiMH flight pack and a 700 mAh
> TX pack and I haven't noticed any decrease in flying time per charge vs.
> my summer flying - but I'm also not running digital servos, just the
> old reliable Futaba 3004s.
>
> Would I be flying a $800+ composite masterpiece off snow and ice on
> skis?  Probably not.  However, I built the SE to have fun with this
> winter and so far it's a complete blast plus I get the benefit of still
> being able to fly 3-4 times a week (and I need all the practice I can
> get!)
>
> Just my experience.  If anyone wants to swap cold flying strategies and
> tips, I'll be glad to share what I know - but the biggest trick is just
> getting out there :-)
>
> BTW, I normally don't go out below -10 F because I can't keep my fingers
> warm enough to last through a flight and haven't gotten a tranmitter
> mitt yet.  The 100% scale recip guys up here stop flying @ -30 F on the
> ground as a general rule of thumb.  The turbines go a bit lower, but
> they try to keep them running all day.
>
> -- 
> Tom
>
> _____________________________________________________________________
>
>       |  ,  |               Tom Simes
> ---------(@)---------        AMA 230068
>        --|--                NSRCA 3830
>          '                  nsrca at shinymetalass.com
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