In the California desert…

Tomorrow, the high temperature is 113F, humidity 24%. This creates an exothermic heat index of 116F @ 17:00:00 CST. 400’ MSL.

To avoid the hottest part of the day I start recommission my R44 @ 04:00CST and fly early morning for a few hours. Definitely staying well under GW and watching DA/temperature closely. I should be all “pau” before the thermometer reaches 100F. Then, afterwards, take a siesta.

Never flown the cadet, but with raven 2s we’d fly pretty damn hot out of S FL, never had to actually do a running takeoff, put round effect and climb at 55 was a common thing if you didn’t want to pull past max

As I recall the cadet doesn’t have AC? If so I don’t care the performance I wouldn’t be flying that in those temps, even with doors off, unless it was a yuuge paycheck

Today the humidity and temperature created a heat index of 91F (which is the highest temp in the Western Hemisphere, except Africa) @ 05.00 CST. I was hoping the heat index would be around 84F (adjusted for humidity) as it was recorded on 13-JULY for example.

Bottom line: defer flying and head for the air conditioned indoor pool at the casino. I actually could use a few days off. The sail, last week, from Seattle to Oregon was 5 days on the open ocean and I got pretty beat up.

Early morning before sunrise:

100F, PA 500’ 1/2 tanks solo — The ship IGE required 21” MP. Practiced in the pattern and the ship flew great! Oil temp was 190F, CHT 350F. I am really satisfied so far. The carburetor heat was locked in the off position.

Very little warm up time for engine instruments reaching green, about 60 seconds.

My personal heat and sun protection is similar to the Tropics ie Marshall Islands in Micronesia. I wore a Florence Marine X hoodie, light gloves, sunscreen etc. I love hot weather at least for a few days anyway. The US Marines are out here practicing parachuting all day in temps as high as 115F. These guys are tough.




Tomorrow starting at 03:00 CST. Flying until about an hour after sunrise.

Last few nights the desert had thunderstorms. Lake Havasu Airport recorded a gust of 47MPH. I could hear thunder throughout the night. At 05:00MST the atmosphere became stable and it was a fantastic morning to fly.

Removed the doors for weight and ventilation:





I’m assimilating painfully slow to the extreme heat. But, loving every minute out here

Also, the ship really flys well. My numbers match the performance charts.

Low ground effect takeoff works with helicopters too. I first learned the technique in the overloaded Cobra sliding off the Perforated Steel Plank, which always happened with the mush just before transitional lift. More than six inch hover resulted in rotor decay (losing turns.) I asked maintenance for the little wheel thing they attached to move helicopters around in maintenance. "No!", they said. "You would just put on more rockets."

I loved summer flying in helicopters with the doors off.


My first ride in any aircraft. July 1969. The pilot did a running take of in the horse pasture. He dropped two of us off with our smoke chaser packs on a 6000 foot ridge.



Early morning take offs could be cold so wear a coat. Hang on tight to your map. When you come back to land a couple hours later you can feel the heat as you get closer to the ground and then very hot about 10 feet off the ground.to touch down.