How hot is your cockpit?

[Anaconda]

"Our new APU policy doesn't help, too. Light it up 3 min prior to push, or 10 min if environmentally necessary, when we begin boarding 20 min prior."

Ouch. Does anyone comply with this?

unfortunately, yes...

 

[Hovernut]

....still beats a 140F, 100% humid fire room in a tin can out in the Persian Gulf the 1st time around with Saddam. We supposedly had a 15 minute "stay time," but they pushed it out to the regular 5-hour watch as long as we stayed in the 110F outside air vent blast between hourly log readings!

 

[PacoPollo]

"Our new APU policy doesn't help, too. Light it up 3 min prior to push, or 10 min if environmentally necessary, when we begin boarding 20 min prior."

Ouch. Does anyone comply with this?


Sh*t dont give AMR Ideas!!!
I have to admit that it gets really hot with the APU mel'd AND
1 pack inop, no aircart. Dam* it was hottt..

 

[Deftone45075]

J31, and it's July, at 2 in the afternoon.

Need I say more.

 

[Ty Webb]

Like someone else posted, cold-soaking on the way down is the way to go. Of course, then everyone closes their eyeball vents, so you either have to have the FA's open 'em again, or have 'em make an announcement . . . . . something along the lines of, "as a courtesy to the next group of passengers, please reach up and open the vent above you".

When we are in the Bahamas, we usually have the FA's close all the windowshades, too, if we have to shut down the APU for any reason.

I always run the gasper fan during engine start- when I'm riding in the back, I don;t like to sit there without any air flow while they are starting the engines, and I am sure many pax notice this too. Even if the air flowing isn;t cool, it at least isn;t stifling, too.

I'm surprised that the DCI carriers would skimp on the APU- we LLC slobs try to minimize its use, too, but only when the OAT is below 80 degrees!

 

[LearLove]

Ditto on the gasper/recerc fan. I hate it when Capts turn that off to start the eng. There's no reason it needs to be off and nobody at my company can give me a reason why its on the checklist. The worst is when the Capt does the #2 eng start list even before push and the ground crew isn't ready to push so you sit there baking and the pax getting mad. Customer service at its best.

 

[metrodriver]

At a metro pax outfit I flew for someone once put a thermometer in the cockpit at the ramp in DFW on a 100 degree day. We had an a/c unit blowing air through the rear bulkhead, and a sunshade in front of the windshield. The thing read 159F ! We had to endure that day in-day out. One fo once suffered from heat exhaustion. And the packs on a metro are not very strong, so it stays very hot till you are through 10.000' , sweating bullets all the way up there. Since we flew some routes at only 5000' it would never get comfortable.

 

[Thedude]

Hey Metrodriver...sounds like we used to work for the same outfit in DFW. I still remember the day s of sitting in DRT waiting for customs to show up and baking in the Metro.

 

[Diesel]

If i ever find the idiot engineer who made those front windows in a ciation Ultra I want to beat the nuts out of him.

On the ground the freon air is just teasing you.

In flight at 450 who ever is in the sun is baking. In the shade is freezing and the pax are freezing to death.

The cockpit is allways 40 degrees hotter than the back even with the air valve turned full rear.

Then you get down low and all the windows fog up because they are plastic and your wondering where the heck your going.

Bouncing around in the NE the plane never gets cool it just gets cooler than the ground. ARgh

 

[JBcrjca]

I had the pleasure(?) of flying the SA-227 for a few months during summertime. You can't beat PSP, YUM, PHX, etc. in the summer with the Metros' great ACMs. Actually the 'packs' were pretty much worthless. The external air cart helped cool things off a tad before boarding, and once the pax were seated we'd put the air hose back in until time to close the door. Boarding at YUM, for instance, in 110F heat was miserable... door closed, no airflow until the engines were started. Even then it was a trickle of lukewarm air from the eyeball vents.

Enroute to PHX, we climbed the cabin as much as we could to get the hot air out. The cabin temp gauge never came off the peg the entire flight. Then repeat the process during a turn in PHX, still 110F. Next stop, FLG. Enroute in the mid-teens, cabin temp still pegged. I loved FLG though, because with its 7000+' elevation, it was absolutely refreshing to pop open the cabin door at the gate and feel the blast of 75F air with the smell of pine trees. I felt bad for the pax as they staggered off the airplane dripping sweat, but we did all we could for them. A few pax even accused us of having all the cool air up in the cockpit. If they only knew how much hotter it was up there compared to the cabin. And then of course we got to do a CAWI takeoff to get out of there...always an adventure.

These days when we get a plane with weak packs, I grumble a bit as I sweat...but then I think about how much worse it could be. In the CRJ in summer, it seems as though we still fold blankets during every turn. I guess the A/C works better than I thought.

Hey ArcticFlyer, any fond summertime memories of the mighty Metroliner?

 

[ch47d]

I defy anyone to find a hotter cockpit than a T-34 in Corpus Christi in the summer. Wearing a helmet, Survival vest and Parachute adds to the pleasure.

A Chinook in the Middle East, while waiting to start the engines wearing a helmet, survival vest with front and back kevlar plates in MOPP 3 .

 

[Tim47SIP]

CH47d is correct!

I spent many months in the hot desert with all of the garbage we have to wear (which I am still amazed that we can even move our arms to get to the flight controls) with the OAT guage peged at over 50 degrees CELCIUS. That is freaking hot even after we get the rotors turning. That is one thing I will never miss about the missions we had to perform in that aircraft.

Hugh wrote - I defy anyone to find a hotter cockpit than a T-34 in Corpus Christi in the summer. Wearing a helmet, Survival vest and Parachute adds to the pleasure

Have you ever been to Howard AFB in Panama during their summer at around 1400 or so?. It is 96-100+ degrees with 99% humidity (I think it is really 110%, but that is just me). That is not just hot, it is miserable! Been to KNGP many times during the summer doing mission support and I can ensure you it isnt even close. OK, maybe a little close, but dont you have AC on those T34's?

 

[chperplt]

How to stay cool in the summer

On the Beech, you can pull a knob that decreases cabin airflow and increases cockpit airflow. Pull that knob out. Pull out the defrost air knob as well. Pull your pant legs up above your knees. Straighten your legs out and place them between the peddles. The VCS/ACM airflow will flow up your pant legs and cool you down quite a bit.

 

[TurboS7]

We have two Asian girls on the flight deck with fans, they do a great job.

 

[B190Captain]

!

On the Beech, you can pull a knob that decreases cabin airflow and increases cockpit airflow. Pull that knob out. Pull out the defrost air knob as well. Pull your pant legs up above your knees. Straighten your legs out and place them between the peddles. The VCS/ACM airflow will flow up your pant legs and cool you down quite a bit.

What about the pax? I'd hate to deadhead on your flight in a hot summer.

I can agree that the mighty beech 1900 was only designed in flight in frozen tundras or cool climates because the aircraft on the ground has abslolutely no cool air when the engines are shut down.

There is no receptacle for ground ac units and no independent ac system that does not require the engine to be running. Although I did fly one 1900 (UB-series) that did have a GROUND COOL feature. I remember it only worked once and then disconnected.

I remember in a steamy day in Tampa, we actually used the jetway ground air conditioning hoses and strapped and secured them in the cabin to cool it down. WOW, did it get frosty in there!! LOL!!

I have spent many occasions burning up in that cockpit when my oat reads around 37-40C. In fact, those days are not over for me, YET!!



Fly safe!!

 

[flx757]

Metrodriver & Thedude,

I've been around a while, and have flown a wide variety of equipment, but I'd have to agree...ain't nothing hotter than the Mighty Metro in Texas (or the Mighty Metro anywhere, for that matter!!) Even in the relative cool of the Colorado Rockies, you baked under that greenhouse windscreen, with no way to get any air whatsoever.

A quick story. When I flew the Metro for a regional (I guess it was a "commuter" in those days) in TX, a couple of the more enterprising pilots routed some clear plastic tubing from the eyeball outlets in the coat closet up to the cockpit and stuffed these down their shirts in an effort to get even a LITTLE relief. One of the pax noticed this tubing, and wrote to the company wanting to know why the pilots were getting oxygen, and the pax were not. True.

 

[NuGuy]

Hey B190Capt,

I too flew the mighty 1900 (UCs and UBs). The AC would work well enough once the engines were started (if the VCS was working), but you're right...on the ground you were toasty.

What was the tail number of that UB that had the ground AC unit? I too flew a UB with that unit installed. It would only work when there was external power plugged in (an on), and nobody could tell us exactly how it worked.

Best,
Nu

 

[chperplt]

What about the pax? I'd hate to deadhead on your flight in a hot summer.

I didn't say I cut the air off completely... just that I decreased the airflow. They still get plenty of air. As a passenger, wouldn't you want your flight crew to be comfortable??

 

[Jetsnake]

Assist your FA in pulling down the shades
and open every gasper valve there is, if
you close the pax door you need to open the
Avionics bay door on the CRJ, the front one,
This will prevent any pressurization problems
if you leave the aircraft, simply meaning, if
your FA or rampers come and open the door
and your not there, it won't pop open on then
injuring someone by mistake, this has happened
in the past.

If your company doesn't have the new mod in
which to hook up to an AC cart, if your APU is INOP,
have then run the AC cart line through the service
door at least 10 feet to cool the plane. The other option
is to make every attractive female strip down to
disperse the heat from there hot little bodies.

 

[B190Captain]

Hey B190Capt,

I too flew the mighty 1900 (UCs and UBs). The AC would work well enough once the engines were started (if the VCS was working), but you're right...on the ground you were toasty.

What was the tail number of that UB that had the ground AC unit? I too flew a UB with that unit installed. It would only work when there was external power plugged in (an on), and nobody could tell us exactly how it worked.

Best,
Nu

N189GA (UB series 1900)

 

[low-key]

the embraers are great, you can make it snow

 

[Dash8]

the problem with the dash's is that their packs weren't designed to cool down a hot plane,
just keep one cool,
thats why they all have the ports on the tail to plug in the external airmachines (that you see sitting under most jetways with the 1.5' diameter yellow hoses).
then you have the problems with the filter systems plugging up, the paper/cardboard ducting, the silicate style packs to absorb condensation in the ducts (and then plug up said duck) so that the poor pax don't have a drop of water blow out on them with the cool air rather than the rivulets of sweat most of them are emiting because of it.

not to mention that as soon as the packs are turned off during start or takeoff the cockpit goes up at least 5-10 degrees in as many seconds (and hotter sometimes)

 

[rice]

JETSNAKE/B190CAPTAIN

Man, you guys are making me look like a rookie with those Avatars!!!!!
But I like the way you think .

 

[NuGuy]

Hiya B190CPT,

Yea, I think mine was 125GP or 126GP. I can't remember which.

best,
Nu

 

[fr0g]

another vote for the metro..

I'll have to cast another vote for the metro! When it's 100 degrees on the ramp, you just cook inside! Hey! I can turn on the "fresh air" fan.. and blow 100 degree air on me..
I know some guys that carry towels with them. Recently, our company got us ONE A/C unit for the main ramp.. of course, now we all just fight over it!!

 

[Loafman]

With the CRJ, I think the key is to keep the aircraft cool and not let it get hot. If you have the same aircraft all day, then start the APU asap and leave it running anytime that you are on the ground. When it's hot outside, I set the temp. controllers to full cold on the descent. That way when we land, all the ducts and the cabin is cool. If the ducts are cool, then it's much easier to cool the airplane. Another thing that you can do is to have the external air (if available) hooked up and running. Run the external air and the APU and you should get some pretty good flow. And make sure that there are no "kinks" in the external air hose. You won't get much airflow with a kink in the line. As previously stated, open all vents in the cabin, galley, and flight deck. Close all window shades. Use window shades for both cockpit windows. And keep the main cabin door curtain closed to keep the heat and humidity out.

I think it all depends on the APU and how worn out the packs are. I've been in some aircraft where they cool well, and others where the airflow is weak. But with external air, all aircraft cool down quickly.

That's all fine and peachy if your airline wasn't so cheap that they require the APU be shut down for all but quick turns...

Even the AA guys are going without APUs on turns, but hey, that POWERBACK sure saves tug gas!!!!

Short-sighted management morons can't figure out the simple thermodynamic principle that it's more feasible to just leave it running.

 

[Birddog]

One idea that we have sucessfully used on the Be1900D is to open the top of the bulkhead in the rear of the cabin, pull the hose from the A/C cart through the cargo door, and hang it in the cabin. You can get it quite cool in there. Pull it out right before boarding and board as quickly as possible.

Otherwise imagine a dark blue 1900 in STL when it is 100 F with the VCM mel'ed and no GPU to run the fans. I am amazed we haven't had any cases of heatstroke.

 

[av8raaron]

"Hello and welcome to Sheppard Air Force Base in sunny Texas. Today's high for your T-37B flying enjoyment will be ONE BILLION DEGREES."