I thought the season was well and truly over, but it turns out we had to pull one of the Tiger Moths out from winter storage. It is about to take part in 2018s Vintage Air Rally, starting in Ushuaia at the very southern tip of Argentina, and ending up at Sun 'n Fun in Florida! One of the participating pilots need to be checked out on type, and as I am one of only three Tiger Moth instructors in Norway, I gave it it a go. Sadly, freezing fog rolled in and put a stop to our attempt, but at least we went through the technical aspects of the plane, and made a few taxi runs, letting him get a feel for the rather unique handling characteristics of the Tiger Moth on the ground.
Just starting the plane in -14 degrees C is quite a project. Start the engine with cold oil, and it will seize up from lack of lubrication. The oil tank is on the left side of the fuselage behind the engine, cooled in part by airflow through a slit in the cowling. This had to be taped shut. Then we covered the engine in blankets and put a heating element in the air intake, as well as a fan heater with a hose directed towards the oil tank, to heat the oil, which otherwise would have been more solid than liquid - you may have seen episodes of Ice Pilots where the oil falls rather than flows out of the engines during maintenance. Not quite as bad as that, but the oil was still pretty thick when cold. Then we put four cans of oil in hot water inside the club house, and sat down with coffee until the engine and oil tank were warm enough.
After filling the four quarts of warm oil, we removed the heaters and attempted to start. Nothing happened, because the intake manifold was stone cold, so fuel wouldn't evaporate at all. Five minutes' heating of the manifold, and it started on the first attempt, with the oil pressure rising to the correct value at once, indicating that the oil was indeed warm enough. Standing in the slipstream was a COLD experience, and it was only a little bit less cold once in the cockpit out of the worst of the blast.
Like I said, we didn't get to fly, only to practice taxiing, but this was still a fun, and COLD, experience! I think back to the thousands of pilots who trained in Tiger Moths and PT-19s in Canada during WWII, Norwegians among them. They had to be absolutely freezing at times! I was wearing fleece underwear, trousers and a wool sweater under the flight suit and wool-lined leather jacket, and that was barely enough! It's not hard to understand why they put canopies on the Tiger Moth and PT-19 Cornell after a while!
In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
Sounds fun semmern. It is the overcoming of such obstacles that makes for real adventures. Having wintered over in Alaska, I understand the effects of very cold on engines. Got enough of that kind of cold to last a lifetime. On the Gulkana Glacier we were out in temps as low as -65 F.
A friend and I heard about this Vintage Air Rally program and applied to do it, but we missed the deadline. If they do it again we will try to be part of it.
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
Yeah, the cold makes for some interesting challenges.
The Vintage Air Rally is laid on for at least two more years. Would be wonderful to see you take part! What plane would you be flying?
Also, if you're going to Sun 'n Fun, keep an eye out for our Tiger Moth, as Lakeland is the end point for this rally!
In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 121,346PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
PanzerMeyer
Pro-Consul of Florida
King Crimson - SimHQ's Top Poster
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 121,346
Miami, FL USA
Lakeland, Florida? My what a small world we live in!
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
Semmern, I fly in to Lakeland Sun n Fun every year. My airplane meets the Vintage category so I am parked there as part of the show. So I will be keeping an eye on it.
My buddy and I are going to see if we can get on the next iteration of that Vintage Rally. He has a 1946 Ercoup. Mine would be a better bet to make the flight, but we may see if we can register both. I will post here about it. They don’t accept all entrants. They have some criteria they use and also try to get a selection of aircraft so that affects who goes.
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
In all my years I've never seen the like. It has to be more than a hundred sea miles and he brings us up on his tail. That's seamanship, Mr. Pullings. My God, that's seamanship!
Reminds me of the time I decided to take the motorcycle to work in 16F temps. NEVER Again. Took me all day to warm up and that was with a snowmobile suit on. But then came the ride home after work. The one thing that was nice, everybody gave me extra room on the road.
I grew up snowmobiling in weather twice as cold usually, but it never cut to the bone like that.
Reminds me of the time I decided to take the motorcycle to work in 16F temps. NEVER Again. Took me all day to warm up and that was with a snowmobile suit on. But then came the ride home after work. The one thing that was nice, everybody gave me extra room on the road.
I grew up snowmobiling in weather twice as cold usually, but it never cut to the bone like that.
My coldest motorcycle ride was 9F. Blue jeans, leather chaps, hoodie, leather jacket and snowmobile gloves. But it was only a 20 minute ride to work.
"In the vast library of socialist books, there’s not a single volume on how to create wealth, only how to take and “redistribute” it.” - David Horowitz
Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 24,712Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Dart
Measured in Llamathrusts
Lifer
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 24,712
Alabaster, AL USA
I don't let winter weather keep me from flying!
Leather flying helmet with goggles Wool scarf Long sleeve t-shirt Five button wool sweater Desert Parka with liner Swedish wool field pants Wool socks Carhart lined leather boots Arctic trigger mittens Big ol' smile
The opinions of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.
Yes, but he's talking SIXTEEN DEGREES BELOW ZERO! Yikes! And that's sixteen below zero air that is hitting you in the face at seventy miles an hour. Now don't go telling me you'd be up in your Noop in that. I mean, it's one thing to have to do it because it's 1916, there's a war on and well.....you HAVE to do it. But for fun? I'll wait 'til I can breath without ice crystalizing in my lungs. And Old, what do you mean "He has a 1946 Ercoup. Mine would be a better bet to make the flight,"...? Don't go talking about the old Ercoupe like that. It'll make it just fine. Just don't be in too much of a hurry. But, its a vintage rally. So I assume that no one there in in too much of a hurry.
"From our orbital vantage point, we observe an earth without borders, full of peace, beauty and magnificence, and we pray that humanity as a whole can imagine a borderless world as we see it, and strive to live as one in peace." Astronaut William C. McCool RIP, January 29, 2003 - Space Shuttle Columbia
Pooch, his Ercoup doesn’t have autopilot and some of the GPS and weather I have. When I first started flying I though “autopilot ? Hell no ! I want to fly this.” Now, I use autopilot a good bit. Funny thing is my wife doesn’t like it when I use autopilot. She wants to see that I have control. I have told her that no matter how hard I try and how I concentrate on it, the autopilot will fly a truer course and better altitude hold than I ever can do. But it is a control issue she has. She wants to see that I am flying it. So I will sneak in autopilot and then hold the yoke. She has caught me and now will watch for that. She reluctantly will let me use it.
Doing that vintage rally would be a fine adventure. I need another big adventure.
Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.
Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.