Cold Weather

Texguy

Texguy

New Member
So I'm still seriously considering taking the plunge and getting the rest of my ratings to make a go of a jet career. A minor concern I have is surviving butt-cold Northern winter weather. I've been in Austin, TX all my life where we don't have winter. Now being up North would be nice when it's 100+ degrees and humid here in the summer.

Please tell me it's not that bad to be a pilot up North in the winter. I can handle temps in the 30s and 40s...but I don't look forward to temps around 0 with a howling wind. I guess the good news is that you just stay indoors as much as possible when the weather is that cold. However just hanging around the hotel on a layover must get old.

Northern winters aren't that bad, riiiiiight?
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Hmm...anything above the Mason-Dixon line? Any place where it's the norm to have below-freezing temps in the winter.
 
I'm below the Mason-Dixon line and we get below freezing temps all the time during the winter. There will be a few times a year where the temps are in the teens, and every now and then, it drops to single digits or below zero.
 
All I know was that I was in Montreal and Toronto the first week of March.... and I wanted to die.
 
The cold gets to me here, but not as bad as the amount of sun light we see each day. For some reason I become so tired from the lack of sun.

Just put a parka on, and look at pictures of sunny Flordia or California when you get sick of the cold up here. It really does not get too bad until late November till about mid/end of February.
 
Yeah it depends where you're looking to go. Up here, we have three seasons: Construction season, Deer season, and Winter.

Winter seems to last too long. I don't mind the snow, but after four months or so of cold weather it gets long. As long as you can make it through January in the north you'll be alright.

But don't think the summers are any better. Hotter than hell with such bad humidity you could stick to a ceiling.

And then in between the seasons you can look forward to driving to work with the heat on, then drive home with the A/C on. Its amazing.
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e
Please tell me it's not that bad to be a pilot up North in the winter. I can handle temps in the 30s and 40s...but I don't look forward to temps around 0 with a howling wind. I guess the good news is that you just stay indoors as much as possible when the weather is that cold. However just hanging around the hotel on a layover must get old.

Northern winters aren't that bad, riiiiiight?
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LOL...i spent 15+ years in Minniapolis. Let me just say that your not really having fun until you have arrived at the employee lot...and dug out a car you thought was yours...only to find that is was someone elses.
 
Nah, it's not bad at all!
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Lets see....what fun do we have flying in winter:

-Driving: The roads can be bare and dry, but at the first sign of a snowflake, everyone starts driving like Nancies. Ohio is not good about plowing, so when it really gets bad, driving sucks.

-Preflighting: Our planes are hangared, so normally we do the preflight inside, then get in the plane, and get towed out. The exception is if a plane just came back, and is going out again, it'll stay outside so the snow doesn't melt and then refreeze. Preflighting when it's 5 degrees and the windchill is below zero, sucks.

-Deicing: When you land with ice all over the plane, you can't just take back off. Podunk airports don't normally have de-icing equipment, which can cause delays while you wait for spring to arrive.
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(Or hangar space, sun, etc.)

-Taxiing: Half the traction, twice the fun!
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-Takeoffs: See above.

-Cruise: Ice, and lots of it. Especially over/around the Great Lakes.

-Approaches: Better get good at 'em. Sometimes you have to do them even in VFR weather, just to find a runway that's snowpacked.

-Landing: All I have to say is, yeeee haaawwwww. Better have your crosswind landings nailed. Combined with the howling winds, snow and ice on the runway makes for a fun ride. Oh yeah, and in my case, you must do this while looking out of a smallish shoebox-sized hotplate, because the rest of the windshield is iced over. And it's nighttime...and snowing.
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(Not always, but you get the point...) Beta and reverse helps, but you can't use it effectively if the snow is loose, lest you find yourself in a whiteout.

It's not that bad, but I think it would definitely take some getting used to if you spent all your life previously in a warm climate. Heck, it takes me some getting used to when winter first hits hard, and I spent 18 years growing up in the upstate NY snow belt.
 
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Nah, it's not bad at all!
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Lets see....what fun do we have flying in winter:

-Driving: The roads can be bare and dry, but at the first sign of a snowflake, everyone starts driving like Nancies. Ohio is not good about plowing, so when it really gets bad, driving sucks.

-Preflighting: Our planes are hangared, so normally we do the preflight inside, then get in the plane, and get towed out. The exception is if a plane just came back, and is going out again, it'll stay outside so the snow doesn't melt and then refreeze. Preflighting when it's 5 degrees and the windchill is below zero, sucks.

-Deicing: When you land with ice all over the plane, you can't just take back off. Podunk airports don't normally have de-icing equipment, which can cause delays while you wait for spring to arrive.
wink.gif
(Or hangar space, sun, etc.)

-Taxiing: Half the traction, twice the fun!
sarcasm.gif
wink.gif


-Takeoffs: See above.

-Cruise: Ice, and lots of it. Especially over/around the Great Lakes.

-Approaches: Better get good at 'em. Sometimes you have to do them even in VFR weather, just to find a runway that's snowpacked.

-Landing: All I have to say is, yeeee haaawwwww. Better have your crosswind landings nailed. Combined with the howling winds, snow and ice on the runway makes for a fun ride. Oh yeah, and in my case, you must do this while looking out of a smallish shoebox-sized hotplate, because the rest of the windshield is iced over. And it's nighttime...and snowing.
smile.gif
(Not always, but you get the point...) Beta and reverse helps, but you can't use it effectively if the snow is loose, lest you find yourself in a whiteout.

It's not that bad, but I think it would definitely take some getting used to if you spent all your life previously in a warm climate. Heck, it takes me some getting used to when winter first hits hard, and I spent 18 years growing up in the upstate NY snow belt.

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Looks like you been getting some good training
 
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So I'm still seriously considering taking the plunge and getting the rest of my ratings to make a go of a jet career. A minor concern I have is surviving butt-cold Northern winter weather. I've been in Austin, TX all my life where we don't have winter. Now being up North would be nice when it's 100+ degrees and humid here in the summer.

Please tell me it's not that bad to be a pilot up North in the winter. I can handle temps in the 30s and 40s...but I don't look forward to temps around 0 with a howling wind. I guess the good news is that you just stay indoors as much as possible when the weather is that cold. However just hanging around the hotel on a layover must get old.

Northern winters aren't that bad, riiiiiight?
crazy.gif


[/ QUOTE ]

If you can survive a Texas summer you can survive a northern winter. The cold isn't that bad when you're used to extreme heat, and it doesn't get that cold unless you're in Minnesota, N. Dakota, or Alaska. In the Midwest it rarely gets below 0 and average temps. in the winter are in the 30's. Actually the summers are wrose than the winters here.

I think if I had to spend summer in south Texas I would die.
 
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All I know was that I was in Montreal and Toronto the first week of March.... and I wanted to die.

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But you didn't, right? Where are you writing from?




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If you can't get the plane in the hangar: Preheat, preheat, preheat, - plug in that engine block heater overnight.

Plug up the air vents... Masking tape works fine.

Self-fueling, make sure you've got gloves, bare skin tends to get stuck to the fueling nozzle.

If you layer up cold isn't too bad. No cotton next to your skin. - good insulation base layer, an outer shirt, a fleece, and a windproof outer shell - should do fine going between heated areas.

You'll get icy patches on the runway. I remember using the brakes sparingly on the runway... So you' have to carry extra airspeed to deal with the gusty crosswinds, but still have to land with low energy so that aerodynamic braking gives you a chance to stop before you go past the end of the runway.

And those open fields of snow are probably frozen over lakes with snow covering the ice.

But during the winter you get pretty good visibility, I remember seeing Mount Washington after taking off from Lake Placid sometimes.
 
Yeah, hate to break it to you, but freezing is sorta the norm during the winter as far south as Memphis. We had a rather large sheet of ice covering the ramp at MEM for a good three to four days over Christmas. Personally, after living in Florida for 7 years, I'd almost RATHER take the cold than the humid heat there. That being said, the cold without the ice and snow would be good. Too bad that hardly ever happens. Remember, you can always put more clothing on, but if you take too much off, it's indescent exposure.
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I'm from Alaska and go to school in North Dakota. The cold doesn't really get to me. I find that the darkness in the winter (especially in Alaska) is the worst part. I tell ya, theres nothing like a -25 degree preflight to build character!
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But you do have to love the performance you get when it's that cold.
 
They are not that bad, sometimes just a little snowy. Where I live is relatively warm compared to the rest of the state. That doesnt mean we get no snow though
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Last winter we got about 2.5 feet of snow in 12 hours. What great snowmaching I had after that
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Alec
 
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Preflighting when it's 5 degrees and the windchill is below zero, sucks.

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here at UND that is called the "extreme preflight". That's why i love the seminole. Janitrol heaters are your friend.
 
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here at UND that is called the "extreme preflight". That's why i love the seminole. Janitrol heaters are your friend.

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*cough* *cough*, I feel weezy. Tell me that funny joke again before I get too much of a headache?
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Quick! How many GPH does it burn and from what tank?

Timer's started.
 
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here at UND that is called the "extreme preflight". That's why i love the seminole. Janitrol heaters are your friend.

[/ QUOTE ]

*cough* *cough*, I feel weezy. Tell me that funny joke again before I get too much of a headache?
smile.gif


Quick! How many GPH does it burn and from what tank?

Timer's started.

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.5 gph left fuel selector (meaning you can have it come off the right tank if you have it on crossfeed) ;-). keep quizzing, have my multi checkride comin up soon
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well...multi/instrument/commercial
 
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