Do you use nitrogen?

[edmulroy]

This article says airplanes use nitrogen in their tires. Maybe by the majors and the Air Force but I've not seen it.

Do you fill your tires with nitrogen?

http://tinyurl.com/k6azr
or, in its long form
http://www.theeveningbulletin.com/s...6819555&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

. Ed

 

[pilothouston123]

Yes, Nitrogen has bigger molucles, less apdt to leak.
Hard to believe, but I have herd this from more than a few sources. Maby a good one for mythbusters.

 

[SabreFlyR]

This article says airplanes use nitrogen in their tires. Maybe by the majors and the Air Force but I've not seen it.

Do you fill your tires with nitrogen?

http://tinyurl.com/k6azr
or, in its long form
http://www.theeveningbulletin.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16819555&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=6

. Ed

Almost every turbine powered airplane uses nitrogen in the tires and struts.

 

[A Squared]

Yes, Nitrogen has bigger molucles, less apdt to leak.
Hard to believe, but I have herd this from more than a few sources. Maby a good one for mythbusters.

I've heard that too, I've also heard the the effusion rate has nothing to do with molecule size, but molecule velocity in a gas (lighter molecule, higher velocity, pressure being equal), and also that it has to do not with velocity, but how the gas interacts wth the membrane. I'm not sure whath e real answer is, but everyone seems to agree that nitrogen will escape more slowly. I haven't, however seen any real hard data on how much more slowly it escapes than air. remember, air is already mostly nitrogen (78%, I think, off the top of my head) so what is the real difference?

edit, I see the linked articles have some figures, nitrogen filled tires lose .7 psi/ month vs 2.7psi/month for air filled tires. So if you check your tire pressure every 2 weeks, that pretty much negates the advantage.

 

[unreal]

I'm almost 100% certain that small GA piston aircraft use normal air in their tires. I've heard of nitrogen being used in turbine aircraft (like a poster said above), but that's about it. The reason I heard was that the nitrogen won't explode in a hot brake situation, but that may simply be bogus.

 

[The_Russian]

Nitrogen freezes at a lower temperature. It also retains a constant pressure over large temperature changes. On top of that it does not contain moisture, unlike the ambient outside air. If outside air is pumped into an aircraft that flies above the freezing level, the moisture within the air will freeze inside the tire. This can cause an imbalance or corrosion.

Also, aircraft tires are designed to resist nitrogen permeation though the carcass.

 

[shamrock]

On top of that it does not contain moisture, unlike the ambient outside air.

That's the explanation I was given by a mechanic for using nitrogen instead of "normal" air.

 

[727gm]

The unfortunate demise of a Mexicana B727-264 in March 1986 (XA-MEM) illustrates the problem. See aviation-safety.net website

 

[Slice121]

I prefer helium. It allows you to takeoff at slower speeds but it's a bitch in the flare.:nuts:

 

[MTpilot]

Nitrogen is inert, it will not burn, also it is less corrosive than regular air because of the moisture issues and because it is inert. Bigger Molecules, Seriously, Come On. Bigger molecules? WTF!

P.S. All of you with bigger molecules go get me a bucket of propwash and some flight line.