How Cold Is Too Cold

I've flown in the teens and single digits, pre-heat is required and if it's not hangared and there's wind you'll want a cowl cover I think. My general rule of thumb is to look at the oil temp and if it looks way lower than normal operating range I don't like to fly.
 
FWIW, our club's rules were:

* If it's below 40ºF when you get back, plug it in.
* Do not start the plane below 20ºF unless it has been plugged in.
* No touch and goes below 0ºF
* No operations at all below -20ºF.

Having gotten close to the -20F limit, I can say that flying below -20F would be highly unpleasant anyway.

And we're gonna be at -25 later this week. :(
 
Tom-D said:
Oh yes they do,, that's why we have winterization kits. plug up those holes, to get it warm enough.
Click to expand...
I found that our O-300 wouldn't get much temp when it was < 10°F at ground level, and of course, things got colder on the way up. It did make "lots" of power (perhaps close to the rated 145 at times.) I wanted to block off some of the cowl, but was advised not to.
 
Around here the temps usually go up as I climb, but I rarely fly above 1500'. It isn't unusual to see 20-25* inversions.
 
No flying with the temps this week, at the most I’ll shovel the hangar door.
 
lowest I have ever took off was 6°F . Planning to fly today and temp will be close to 2 ° F . that will be new record for me
 
Anything <20F and my fingers get too cold and I start to rush the preflight. Our cold snaps don’t usually last more than a few days, so a reschedule of the local fun flights I do is a good option.
 
This is a copy of the water solubility in various petroleum elements. Aviation fuel is mostly made up of benzene and aromatic hydrocarbons. Chilling any saturated mixture below 32 degF will cause the water to precipitate out as ice crystals or snow, either will slowly plug a gascolator screen. See post number 12.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jm1q2d0kbbjqz92/IMG_0529 (2).JPG?dl=0

Do your own calculations.....:D
 
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