I was wondering if anybody thought about using helium instead of air in their BW's. Might help make the plane feel a little bit lighter and want to take off quicker. Just a thought that crossed my mind and figured I'd throw it out there.

I thought about it too, but helium is a really small molecule like propane, and I believe it would just leak out between the rubber molecules like propane does. I have tried propane, for convenience of no compressor, but you have to refill the tires once a week or so... and not smoke when letting air out....

Why not try Hydrogen...you get more bang for your buck and it is lighter than Helium>

I'm confused, isn't propane heavier than air? If so what would you gain by putting propane instead air in your tires?

hicountry wrote:Why not try Hydrogen...you get more bang for your buck and it is lighter than Helium>

Yea make you do a soft field every time. One landing to hard and you REALLY get a bang

Helium and Hydrogen are indeed small molecules and do leak faster than Air or pure Nitrogen. Nitrogen is a less corrosive element than Oxygen and should not only stay in your tires longer but degrade the rubber less ( this is such a small benefit that I don't see how it would really matter).

I am a bit confused why propane leaks faster than He, or air. Propane is a pretty big molecule when compared to Helium or Hydrogen C3H8 vs. H2, O2, or N2 for Hydrogen, Oxygen, or Nitrogen. I understand the ease of hooking up a propane tank to a tire for a quick fill, but flying around with two explosive tires????

Closing chemistry book now.

TD

I'm filling mine with Argon.

The reason I used to use propane, is besides no compressor, that you can fill up probably 100 truck tires on a gallon of propane. I just assumed it was a small molecule, cause you really do have to keep adding propane once you start, then when you let it out and add compressed air, no more leaks...

I prefer a speciality mixture composed of 78% hydrogen, 21% oxygen, 0.9% argon, 0.03% carbon dioxide, and some miscellaneous trace gases. This is also considered the ideal mixture for footballs where extensive testing was done that indicated absolutely no advantage to filling them with helium or hydrogen.

By extensive testing are you referring to Mythbusters

We used to fill our racecar tires with N2...it doesn't expand at the same rate air does...I believe high altitude aircraft put nitrogen in their tires also for this same reason.

AvidFlyer wrote:By extensive testing are you referring to Mythbusters

Why, yes I am! Very good of you to recognize that reference. An altogether enjoyable show filled with practical information!

I don't really think there'd be enough volume, even in the big BW tires, to make a noticeable difference.
Of course, if someone has a plane equipped with em, and a set of scales, I'd love to see if there really
is a difference.

I fill my airplane tires with Flubber. Disney sells it.

hotrod150 wrote:I fill my airplane tires with Flubber. Disney sells it.

Outstanding!

How about methane?

It's readily available after last night's chili dinner at the fly-in.

Don't try helium.... This is what happened......

Coyote Ugly wrote:Don't try helium.... This is what happened......

Quick! suck the helium out and (in a very tinny high pitched voice) call for help!

I like to have one tire filled with Helium and the other with Propane. That way when I'm camping I can suck the helium out of one to make my jokes sound funny talking in a Donald Duck voice, while the other tire is hooked up to the Bar B-Q thats cooking fat steaks.