Anyone use Artic Air portable air conditioning

I have the Artic Air portable unit and have used it extensively. I had a house in Bullhead City, AZ for many years and would fly from CA to AZ and back many times per year. I use AA while pre-flighting, etc. I plug it into a portable 12v battery before engine start, then into the airplane's aux 12v once I'm airborne. I leave it on for climb and turn it off once at altitude. If needed, when flying to AZ, I turn it on for descent and landing. Makes my pax and me much more comfortable. It makes a huge difference once you learn the easy ways to manage it. Use block ice (frozen water in empty gallon milk jug) and cubes. I have second fridge in my garage, so not a big deal to load it before I leave for the airport. If I was only flying in CA, I might not use it. Would probably use it for flight to DV. I put mine in the rear baggage compartment of my Comanche. Hate when I don't bring it for the summer flights to AZ.

I fly up about 9500' when flying to AZ. Cool at that alt in most cases.
 
WDD said:
So on a toasty summer day in high 90s - how high do you have to go to get some relief from heat?
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We're at around 4000 MSL here in El Paso ... I fly above 9500 in the hottest part of the summer. Crossed Blythe AZ once when they had 119* on the ground ... was still warm at 10500 MSL
 
Never used one but would have killed for one aloft the year we stupidly flew to Vegas in July.

Otherwise opening the window works. Have to turn the squelch up on the intercom or just turn it off though. Noisy.
 
jd21476 said:
With temperatures rising in the Southwest I am thinking about how to stay cool. I saw the Artic Air A/C system and I am curious of real world results.
Or, any other options?
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We throw a frozen water bottle in front of a quality 12v fan to cool the inside of our off-road camper. Works good enough for Texas heat. Might even work with the vents in your Piper. I just open the canopy in the Gru’.


Fly naked.
 
jd21476 said:
With temperatures rising in the Southwest I am thinking about how to stay cool. I saw the Artic Air A/C system and I am curious of real world results.
Or, any other options?
Click to expand...

I built one a couple of years back, hoping to use it in the airplane or when camping at OSH, but I never used it. Heat is a problem only when flying around at low altitudes, which is typically a short duration training flight. It didn't seem worthwhile hauling the cooler, filling with ice and draining it at the end just to save an hour of sweating in the airplane. Besides, it takes some time to cool the airplane, and by that time you might already be at a cooler altitude anyway.
 
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