Flying to Florida

smigaldi said:
It is what is most important!

I really did want to go home today and I was really pushing myself, but there was still doubt as to if I could make the flight and be really, truly safe. I realized I was suffering a little 'get there-itis' fairly quickly in the decision process. Even though I may have had a chance to get in I opted for the much safer stay the night and leave tomorrow route. There really is no reason I have to be home tonight so why rush?
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...thus are successful outcomes preserved. Good choice.
 
Geesh Scott! Just a bit more wind on final and you could use a rotary wing call sign <g>. Land vertically. Hope you get things worked out. Kent's saying things are pretty bleak in MSN right now.

Best,

Dave
 
Dave Siciliano said:
Geesh Scott! Just a bit more wind on final and you could use a rotary wing call sign <g>. Land vertically. Hope you get things worked out. Kent's saying things are pretty bleak in MSN right now.

Best,

Dave
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What Kent is seeing is basically the same thing at my home aerodrome.

KDPA 212352Z 26018G29KT 5SM BLSN FEW015 SCT029 M19/M23 A3014 RMK AO2
PK WND 27029/2344 SLP228 T11941233 11189 21200 51019=

But tomorrow things look much better

FM221300 27010KT P6SM SKC FM222000 22008KT P6SM SCT250=

I talked to the line guys and he said it is close to a white out and they gave up on clearing the runway today. They will get a start tomorrow in the am. There is a guy who has a checkride at 9am that they want to get out. Then they will dig a path my hangar.


This was the METAR about an hour after I landed
KCMI 212153Z 27030G40KT 5SM HZ SCT027 OVC033 M17/M23 A3021 RMK AO2 PK

ATIS reported WNDS 270@28G35 4HZ, 2000SCT, 2700BKN, 3400OVC
WND 27040/2146 SNB2058E30 SLP248 P0000 T11671228 $=
 
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Other than the cold looks a lot better today.

KDPA 221352Z 24006KT 10SM CLR M21/M24 A3039 RMK AO2 SLP315 T12061239
 
RMCN172RG said:
Other than the cold looks a lot better today.

KDPA 221352Z 24006KT 10SM CLR M21/M24 A3039 RMK AO2 SLP315 T12061239
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Darn tooting!

Woke up this morning to see blue skies and little wind!

I headed to the airport to head home after seeing CAVU the whole route.

Flightstar took me to the hangar where my plane was parked. Under both wings were some nice blue stains where the fuel had expanded in the warm air and left the wing tank exhausts. Probably only lost a small amount. But the plane was very happy to have been indoors all night. It was also parked next to N83JJ. This jet belongs to a home town hero of sorts. He is from the town I live in and left here in 1983 after HS in search of success. He quit college and started a sandwich business called Jimmy Johns. This biz is HQ'ed in Champaign and the jet was his.

I did my preflight in the nice warm hangar and then, while sitting in the cockpit was towed out to the cold ramp. Started the engine and for the first time this entire trip did a VFR leg. Took off and headed home. Then about 15 minutes into the flight I started to lose power. First a 100 RPM and then another 100rpm. The engine started running a little rough too. I had no indications on any instruments other than the tach that something was not right. So I reached over to the carb heat and turned it on. Back up to speed and no roughness!

Obviouslywas getting some carb ice in the M20 air. I left the carb heat on for while and turned it off but again immediately lost power, so back on with carb heat and ran it for a half hour. I then turned it off and the power stayed the same.

As I got to the south of Chicago area I finally started to see snow. Then as I got closer to KARR I saw lots of snow and drifts. Landing at my airport was uneventful and the guys had cleared the runway. The taxi to my hangar was a little fun as the small uphil was still covered with snow.

I had called yesterday to have my apron in front of my hangar cleared. A lot of the hangars were not able to be opened yet. There were two foot high drifts. But the line guys met me at my hangar and we got my truck out and put the plane in.

Mission Accomplished!!

I'll do the totals tomorrow but what a great trip.

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Glad you got home safely today Scott. Looks like tomorrow wouldn't have been much fun.

Best,

Dave
 
smigaldi said:
Then about 15 minutes into the flight I started to lose power. First a 100 RPM and then another 100rpm. The engine started running a little rough too. I had no indications on any instruments other than the tach that something was not right. So I reached over to the carb heat and turned it on. Back up to speed and no roughness!

Obviouslywas getting some carb ice in the M20 air. I left the carb heat on for while and turned it off but again immediately lost power, so back on with carb heat and ran it for a half hour. I then turned it off and the power stayed the same.
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I was originally thinking "Hey, M20 is too cold for carb ice, isn't it? Maybe the warming effects of the carb placement on the Pipers that lead to them generally not needing carb heat was causing it to warm up enough to freeze in the carb."

But then I read the thing about how you "immediately lost power" when you turned it off. Carb ice wouldn't cause an immediate power loss - Your air filter was frozen. :yes:

I've had to idle the 182 with cowl flaps closed and carb heat on for 20 minutes to thaw the filter before taking off - Engine wouldn't start without the carb heat on, and wouldn't stay on either until it had warmed up quite a bit.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
I was originally thinking "Hey, M20 is too cold for carb ice, isn't it? Maybe the warming effects of the carb placement on the Pipers that lead to them generally not needing carb heat was causing it to warm up enough to freeze in the carb."

But then I read the thing about how you "immediately lost power" when you turned it off. Carb ice wouldn't cause an immediate power loss - Your air filter was frozen. :yes:

I've had to idle the 182 with cowl flaps closed and carb heat on for 20 minutes to thaw the filter before taking off - Engine wouldn't start without the carb heat on, and wouldn't stay on either until it had warmed up quite a bit.
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You bring up a good observation Kent. The warm air filter would freeze any water vapor coming into it. But I would not expect that there is much water in -20C air. The other way that could have worked is if there was moisture on the air filter to begin with and the cold air jsut froze that. Possible but as you know the Midwest is not known for humidity come winter.

But the instant lose and regaining of power is more in line with your theory than carb ice.

My feeling was that the warm fuel hitting the super cold air in the carb was freezing up the fuel inlets and that the application of carb heat was stopping that. Of course it is just a theory as well. I did not think I was getting 'classic' carb ice.
 
john smith said:
Oops! Should be lean the mixture.
Carb heat is warm air, less dense.
Carb heat on enriches the set mixture (more fuel per volume of air).
Lean to reestablish correct balance of air to fuel.
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I knew If I made you think about it you would figure that it was the other way around.

To answer your question did I lean when I put the carb heat on, the answer is no. I am at the 30 hour point in a top break in and so running a little rich is what my mechanic has directed me to do. Not that on a -20C day your CHTs are going to be very hot to begin with. But the difference between the lean and the richer fuel/air mixture was so small it did not make much difference at all.
 
smigaldi said:
I am at the 30 hour point in a top break in and so running a little rich is what my mechanic has directed me to do. Not that on a -20C day your CHTs are going to be very hot to begin with. But the difference between the lean and the richer fuel/air mixture was so small it did not make much difference at all.
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Scott, unless you went with pure chromed cylinders, at 30 hours your engine should be as "broken in" as it's going to get. IME the whole process rarely takes more than a few hours of hard running unless something is wrong and in that case it won't matter how long you run it rich. And there are downsides to excessively rich mixtures beyond the cost of the wasted fuel, like carbon buildup on pistons, cylinder heads, valves, and rings.
 
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lancefisher said:
Scott, unless you went with pure chromed cylinders, at 30 hours your engine should be as "broken in" as it's going to get. IME the whole process rarely takes more than a few hours of hard running unless something is wrong and in that case it won't matter how long you run it rich. And there are downsides to excessively rich mixtures beyond the cost of the wasted fuel, like carbon buildup on pistons, cylinder heads, valves, and rings.
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I noticed the CHTs, fuel consumption were pretty much back to normal at about 8 hours. I was not "excessively" rich, just richer than I normally run. I am a fairly aggressive leaner when it comes to running my engine.
 
Did the Fla thing once myself, VFR too. Next time I'll take a jet. Thanks for the story.
 
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