That was always my procedure on the PA46s as well. Heated pitot and stall warner. Always think best not to run them long without airflow.
I know some of the Diamonds have a thermal switch in the pitot head that cuts out the heater when too long heated on the ground, it resets and reapplies power when cooled. I think there is. G1000 alert for it.
Balliol wrote:
ow some of the Diamonds have a thermal switch in the pitot head that cuts out the heater when too long heated on the ground, it resets and reapplies power when cooled. I think there is. G1000 alert for it.
Perhaps. I just like to fly with procedures that work regardless of what I am flying. The more changes you need to make the more chance of mistakes.
Job well done, Rob! The first IFR flight abroad flying solo is a major achievement.
The DA40 G1000 indeed has pitot overheat protection, but I wouldn’t rely on it.
Just follow the POH. Switch it on during lineup, and switch it off after landing.
By the way: You can fly OK without airspeed indication just using attitude and power.
I’ve done a couple of landings with the ASI covered with an instructor.
Thanks for sharing Rob, glad you had a good trip and hope that you got to see plenty of Dinard and the great coastal walks.
I never used to be so regimented with the pitot heat when mostly flying VFR but now have a yellow light right in my eye line to prompt me when lining up on the runway and having a last look around before blasting off!
I know some of the Diamonds have a thermal switch in the pitot head that cuts out the heater when too long heated on the ground, it resets and reapplies power when cooled. I think there is. G1000 alert for it.
That is a very good system.
That was one of the reasons I didn’t install that AoA sensor I was looking at (multiple threads on the topic here). The unheated one would be self evidently useless (anywhere north of Africa) and the heated one dissipated something like 200W which would damage the paint on the wing skin. The mfg terminated correspondence when I questioned this. It was solvable by the dead easy method of fitting a temperature switch to the mounting base, albeit this would not be IAW the IM so not really legit…
Something is really puzzling me here……At this particular point in the flight, I glanced at the ASI, and it was showing 80kts (was cruising at 142), as mentioned earlier. Now If I had had a pilot or static blockage it should have stuck at that, and only made itself evident in a climb or descent (PUDSOD) I only started to pick up a little ice, nothing to knock 60kts off the speed.I had a look back at the Skydemon logs and the GPS speed never dropped. Any theories…?
Partial blockage?
The ASI should remain at the reading at which it got blocked, provided you do not change altitude.
Pitot heat goes on with the line up check and off with the leaving runway items after landing. You can very easily burn out a pitot heat if you switch it on already after engine start.
Actually, i’ve been wondering if that would not also be a thing for the weight on wheel switch to prevent these burnouts. I’ve had two happen to me in my old Cessna (which was IFR) when once I and once another pilot forgot to switch it off after landing and only noticed on shut down.
