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  #11  
Old 03-10-2016, 11:49 AM
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Ed_Wischmeyer Ed_Wischmeyer is offline
 
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Pitot heat is also handy for evicting the stray rain drop that tries to travel with you.

Ed
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  #12  
Old 03-10-2016, 11:57 AM
StuBob StuBob is offline
 
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Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkW View Post
The other side of that argument is that on most systems the pitot only provides air speed. Most will have ground speed with their GPS. A pitot can easily be done without.
It's one thing to do without a pitot. It's another thing entirely to diagnose and cope with pitot ice.
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  #13  
Old 03-10-2016, 12:12 PM
F1R F1R is offline
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkW View Post
The other side of that argument is that on most systems the pitot only provides air speed. Most will have ground speed with their GPS. A pitot can easily be done without.
I used to agree with the above, however it is only true in day VMC and totally clear night VMC in an airframe you are very accustomed to. From experience, not as easy with the canopy iced over and useless for landing.

In IMC day or night if your glass Attitude Information and or synthetic vision is compromised from lost pitot and the auto pilot is useless from the same lost pitot, or static info, it is a situation best avoided. I suggest a study on the following 3 flights.

All 3 AC had accurate ground speed and accurate gyro attitude information.
2 of the 3 had multi thousand hour captains in the LH seat. All were lost for blocked pitot or static ports in the case of 603.

Birgenair Flight 301 B757

Aeroperú Flight 603 B757

Air France 447 A330

Flight in IMC is a totally unforgiving environment.

Most sport grade glass is evolving more reliable, however, loss of accurate pitot and static information will confuse most of it at best. Ditto with several of the autopilots. A bad GPS ant. can render all of a ships GPS equipment useless.

Last edited by F1R : 03-10-2016 at 12:16 PM.
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  #14  
Old 03-10-2016, 12:33 PM
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MarkW MarkW is offline
 
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Location: Edgewater, FL. KSFB
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F1R,
All three of these had heated pitot (even multiple). Also very bad examples of loss of life due to none heated pitot. All three had much bigger problems.
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  #15  
Old 03-10-2016, 03:01 PM
wvshooter wvshooter is offline
 
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: WV
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How common is static port failure due to ice? Also, does anyone sell a heated static port?
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  #16  
Old 03-10-2016, 03:29 PM
F1R F1R is offline
 
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Some of the heated pitot masts have the static ports on the same shaft. I have an older Gretz Aero like this. A single cover protects both and uncovers both on preflight.
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  #17  
Old 03-10-2016, 04:45 PM
BobTurner BobTurner is offline
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Livermore, CA
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Pretty easy to install an alternate static inside our non-pressurized planes. That does require the pilot to diagnose the problem.
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  #18  
Old 03-10-2016, 06:44 PM
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donaziza donaziza is offline
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 745
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You maybe don't "have" to have pitot static heat under the regs, BUT----a long time ago, a Northwest 727 crew forgot to turn it on. They crashed. More recently the Air France A 330 crashed Rio to Paris. Air buses had a history of their pilots bit---ing about their pitot heats were not working well enough. I guess airbus finally fixed it after that crash.

During level flight, there could be no change in indicated airspeed, even after making large power changes.

During climb, the indicated airspeed could increase.

During descent, the indicated airspeed could decrease.

YOU IN BEEG TRAUBLE MON!!!!!!

FLY ATTITUDE
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  #19  
Old 03-10-2016, 07:17 PM
BobTurner BobTurner is offline
 
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Location: Livermore, CA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by donaziza View Post

FLY ATTITUDE
Of course if you have an EFIS that loses attitude because you lost airspeed...
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  #20  
Old 03-10-2016, 07:29 PM
David-aviator David-aviator is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Chesterfield, Missouri
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wvshooter View Post
I recently read somewhere that a heated pitot tube is required for IFR flight. Then I read an EAA write up on equipment required for IFR which makes no mention of a heated pitot tube. Who's right?
Stay out of ice, no big deal.

Better yet buy a ticked on SWA, sit back and have a beer.
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