Using a pitot tube at stp full#

The main difference was that (in our case) it was the non-flying pilot's job to call out those parameters.

Using a pitot tube at stp full#

We had a short list of things to check and verbalize once full power was applied. You might get away without using one for a few decades, like me, but sooner or later bugs really will take up residence.Ĭlick to expand.It's interesting that you say that, as this mirrors the way Mary and I flew for decades.

Moral of the story: Use that pitot cover when you're parked outside for any length of time. Incredibly, in just 48 hours on that ramp in the desert, something had moved in and clogged that tube.Īfter reaming, here's what the instruments looked like on the next leg home: I took a piece of safety wire, and carefully reamed out a yellowish goo that looked like insect guts, or eggs, or something. Nothing, nada, zilch - it was 100% clogged. This is opposite the steam gauge, which (or course) displayed zero when dead.Īt Uvalde I got the tools out and removed the pitot tube from the aircraft (I love experimental planes) and tried to blow through it. I found it interesting that the EFIS airspeed ribbon failed at the top of the airspeed range. This is what the instruments looked like:

By now I had rediscovered that my EFIS conveniently displayed GPS ground speed right underneath where airspeed would normally be displayed, so I flew onto our destination, Uvalde, TX. So, we took off again - and still had no airspeed. I even blew into it, and tried lightly sucking on it - and noted no abnormal (or icky) stuff. I looked in the pitot tube and saw no obstructions. Basically, it's a piece of 1/4' tubing with a 90 degree bend in it, held on to an AN fitting on the bottom of the left wing with a nut. On my RV-8A, the pitot tube really IS a tube. I flew the pattern, had Mary call out GPS ground speeds to me (like a good flight engineer), and landed uneventfully. When we departed this morning, I noticed that I had no airspeed - neither the EFIS nor the backup instrument (indicating a pitot failure) - right around the time I was rotating. As I was walking away, I noticed, but thought 'Meh, what could live out here?' (It was 98 degrees, with no signs of life anywhere. When I parked the plane on Tuesday, I neglected to put the pitot tube cover on. Here's an example of the terrain, as seen on climb-out:Īnyhow, we were there for a grand total of 48 hours. It's where the movies 'Giant', 'No Country for Old Men', 'There Will Be Blood', and 'Sylvester' were filmed, mostly because of its starkly beautiful, desolate landscape. Marfa is on the high desert of Southwest Texas. for some R&R, after a wonderful night in San Antonio with friends. I've been known to park in the North 40 at OSH for 8 days without one, with no ill effects.

I have never been very religious about using a pitot cover, mostly due to sheer laziness.