Well I did something stupid today

[neggy]

We have a local church that was hit by lightning over the summer, it is a structure I have taken pictures of many times.

They got around to fixing the fire damage this week.

The other day I got some pictures of the work in progress.
Today I noticed the work was complete.

I checked and had the bare minimums to fly... ceiling and visibility were marginal but off I went.

Well dope me forgot to do something.... look at the dew point and temperature.

I was about 3 minutes into the flight the screen is going nuts

Thermal overload, excessive current drain, the aircraft was unstable and losing altittude.

I started getting it back over my LZ as it was dropping, it did a hard landing ( one bounce) but no damage.

I picked it up and could smell that the RF motor was hot.

A look at the props showed ice on the leading edges.

That is what I get for not looking at the dew point.

I should have know better as in a small plane ice build up on the wings and in the carburetor is a real concern.

Lesson learned, and maybe my near miss will be a teaching moment for one of you too

 

[sar104]

We have a local church that was hit by lightning over the summer, it is a structure I have taken pictures of many times.

They got around to fixing the fire damage this week.

The other day I got some pictures of the work in progress.
Today I noticed the work was complete.

I checked and had the bare minimums to fly... ceiling and visibility were marginal but off I went.

Well dope me forgot to do something.... look at the dew point and temperature.

I was about 3 minutes into the flight the screen is going nuts

Thermal overload, excessive current drain, the aircraft was unstable and losing altittude.

I started getting it back over my LZ as it was dropping, it did a hard landing ( one bounce) but no damage.

I picked it up and could smell that the RF motor was hot.

A look at the props showed ice on the leading edges.

That is what I get for not looking at the dew point.

I should have know better as in a small plane ice build up on the wings and in the carburetor is a real concern.

Lesson learned, and maybe my near miss will be a teaching moment for one of you too

Will you have to replace the carburetor?

 

[BD0G]

Or at least rebuild it with a 4 barrel Holley!

 

[neggy]

Will you have to replace the carburetor?

No, normally in the Cessna we just add some carb heat when we keep adding throttle and don't get an increase on power.....

I can't believe I was so dumb that I didn't take into consideration the dew point and temperature when I was getting ready to fly the drone.... as it is something I have to do when I fly a plane.

If you read a weather report for an airport, or a forecast or even call in to an AWOS ( try RWS at 239 561 0966 to hear one) they give you the temp and dew point so you are aware of the chance of icing..... and if you know the formula you can use the spread between the temp. and dew point to determine where the cloud ceiling is.

I am just hoping I didn't damage the motor

 

[Starz]

Fuel injection is not as problematic regarding altitude change.
I’ll vote for F.I.

 

[neggy]

Before the fire, just after it got put out, and repaired ( as of today)

 

[BD0G]

The Dew Point and Temperature dont cause double vision do they?

 

[Former Member]

We have a local church that was hit by lightning over the summer, it is a structure I have taken pictures of many times.

They got around to fixing the fire damage this week.

The other day I got some pictures of the work in progress.
Today I noticed the work was complete.

I checked and had the bare minimums to fly... ceiling and visibility were marginal but off I went.

Well dope me forgot to do something.... look at the dew point and temperature.

I was about 3 minutes into the flight the screen is going nuts

Thermal overload, excessive current drain, the aircraft was unstable and losing altittude.

I started getting it back over my LZ as it was dropping, it did a hard landing ( one bounce) but no damage.

I picked it up and could smell that the RF motor was hot.

A look at the props showed ice on the leading edges.

That is what I get for not looking at the dew point.

I should have know better as in a small plane ice build up on the wings and in the carburetor is a real concern.

Lesson learned, and maybe my near miss will be a teaching moment for one of you too

You should go buy a lottery ticket. Alot of full scale pilots never live to tell the tale of icing.

 

[Gr8ful]

We have a very tall 1880s house with the original lightning rods with the glass balls & proper copper cable & ground rod installed.

 

[ruggb]

This begs the question > what is a safe ratio and under what conditions?

 

[sar104]

This begs the question > what is a safe ratio and under what conditions?

A safe ratio between what?

 

[Starz]

I believe he is wanting to know what dew point level is safe?

 

[RobH2]

I would guess that a safer dew point is one that is not the same as the air temperature. If they are the same or close to the same, the air is 100% or nearly so, saturated. In cold temps, that provides a lot of moisture that can freeze on props. I'd guess that if there's a 10-degree separation you'd probably be safe. Just a guess, anyone have better data to support this?

Case in point and this thread made me stop and consider things, we are getting a lot of snow on the East Coast in Maryland tomorrow. I wanted to fly above my house and do a 360 pano of the newly snow blanked neighborhood. I just checked the weather for tomorrow and the temp will be 33° and the dew point is 25°. That's only 8° difference and under my 10° guess but I'm going to try it. I'll report back.

 

[wxperson]

I am a meteorologist and am curious..... what were the temperature and dew point readings?

 

[RobH2]

I am a meteorologist and am curious..... what were the temperature and dew point readings?

Now we're getting somewhere, that's what we need, someone like 'wxperson.' I hope the OP reports back. I'm very curious.

 

[¬Nomad]

basically in high humidity if the surface temp and dewpoint are the same figure, you is wet or iced up, if they are only a degree apart you will be wet or iced up at 400ft

 

[Slim.slamma]

A look at the props showed ice on the leading edges.

Happen to me once some years back.
It’s a simple solution

Starch from a potato or water repellent.

You should go buy a lottery ticket. Alot of full scale pilots never live to tell the tale of icing.

only when a esc fails

For All Weather Pilots this is common

 

[Prmath]

Now it’s my turn.......... if my M2P will go 3 miles out, Will it go 3 miles up ?
No, I would not but an argument at work needs to be settled ........

 

[Ken K]

I would guess that a safer dew point is one that is not the same as the air temperature. If they are the same or close to the same, the air is 100% or nearly so, saturated. In cold temps, that provides a lot of moisture that can freeze on props. I'd guess that if there's a 10-degree separation you'd probably be safe. Just a guess, anyone have better data to support this?

Case in point and this thread made me stop and consider things, we are getting a lot of snow on the East Coast in Maryland tomorrow. I wanted to fly above my house and do a 360 pano of the newly snow blanked neighborhood. I just checked the weather for tomorrow and the temp will be 33° and the dew point is 25°. That's only 8° difference and under my 10° guess but I'm going to try it. I'll report back.

This web page might help:
Aircraft Icing

 

[Slim.slamma]

Easy to test at home using the icebox some spare props and potato starch