cabin heat

[Dave F]

Lost an engine once, and was lucky and made the airport. It completely changed my
perspective. MIght sound paranoid, but ...

I'm very close to Chicago, but just a few minutes flying can put you over countryside
where if somebody didn't see you go down, and you should happen to get hurt on landing,
you could be there for a while. Just sitting injured for a few hours in a plane with no heat
and light clothing could be enough to kill you in really cold weather.

I also have a couple el-cheapo live preservers I toss in the plane any time I fly along
the lakeshore as well.

Jeff

Yes - dress for the worse - take along your survival gear as well.
I had instances years ago where the Feds gave me crap for pencil entry in logs -- I said dude -- ball points don;t flow well at -40 Chuckles

[cap01]

jeff is absolutely correct , in a matter of minutes a person could be down in something like this . they dont even try to keep the roads open on this side of the mountain in the winter . i carry around 20 lbs of extra gear in a helmet bag strapped in the right seat along with a plb in the map box .

[akflyer]

I have a heat muff on my exhausts and love it. Actually I have 2 heat muffs. The first is on the down tube just below the elbow, then the main one is on the expansion chamber. Air comes in from a scoop in the front of the cowling, through the first muff on the down tube, then into the main heat muff and into the cabin. I fly at -30F routinely and never had any problems getting cold. That being said, I also fly in my winter snowmachine gear (nothing more than fleece pants and top with a gortex shell over it) and good boots as I fly remote areas and many times in a crash you only have what you are wearing to protect you from the elements.

I can comfortably fly with no gloves at any OAT and have done a couple 2 hrs flights at -30 with the door open when I broke an exhaust spring and the CO detector turned black in a matter if minutes. I just opened the door and continued home as there was really no where for me to safely set it down.

The other 2 planes I flew with the heater core in the plane just didnt move enough air through them to even keep the windows defrosted.