Winter Operations

Good afternoon fellow pilots, I just want to talk about winter fronts and their use on aircraft. For us flying in the northern part of the country we need to be considering our oil temperature before we taxi on the runway for take-off. I have my students keep the RPM around 1000-1200 until the needle comes of the wall for the oil temp gauge. Once the needle moves away from the wall I allow the student to perform the before take off checklist. Before we take the runway, I make sure we check the oil temp gauge one last time during our flow check to make sure it is now in the green before we go for our flight.

For the oil temperature to increase to operating temperature, you need to have installed the winter fronts when the out side air temperature is 20°F or colder. Winter fronts are pieces of plastic that cover the air inlets on the front of the cowl to restrict airflow over the cylinders. The oil cooler plate restricts the airflow over the oil cooler. These also need to be installed to help reach normal operating temperature.

FAA-H-8083-3A; Airplane Flying Handbook Fig 3-2

Bob Glentz “One Soul On Board”

Today I was able to solo Bob and the aviation gods must have been watching out for us. We had a cross wind this morning but figured we would go and have some cross-wind landing practice. After we were airborne the wind changed to a 20 degree cross-wind at 2 knots. It worked perfect. Bob performed some nice landings so I got out and sent him up solo for his three landings. After we had taken some pictures and the secrets have been passed on to a new pilot, and the congratulations were over the wind picked up with a gust to 17 knots. It was a great day and Congratulations Bob on a awsome performance with some really nice solo landings. Take care. Keep the greasy side down.

Weather

Well today was a great example of what the weather can do to us as pilots.   Watching T.V. last night and it was suppose to have showers on and off today, did not see any of those.  The TAF was calling for some BKN cloud.  I was able to have my first lesson but after that the weather came in and dropped the ceiling down to 800 feet and 3SM visibility.  Had to take my lessons and switch them for tomorrow and we will see what will happen then.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Private pilot ground school

Well tonight is the last night of ground school after 11 weeks. I will miss all of you and the weekly questions.  Thank you all for hanging in their and doing a great job. Now the next step for all of you is to start the flying portion. Hope you all had fun and see you around the airport for you next flying lesson. Take care and have a great holiday season.

My next private pilot ground school will be starting on March 5th.

Hello fellow pilots!

I just started this crazy adventure of blogging in the pursuit of teaching and learning more about aviation.

Enjoy and look forward to some great discussions in the future.