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I had similar thoughts as Dale when I saw Travis' pictures. The weather also "broke" here in western New York over the weekend which required some mindless, go nowhere fast aviation to be committed. I'm sure I don't have to remind those "Michigan Flyers" but lest the rest of the country think all winter flying looks like Fort Worth, Texas I will attach a couple of photos. The weather was 28015G25 5-8SM -SN FEW015 OVC020 T119125. In Fahrenheit & Statute that equates to -2 degrees with 17-28 MPH winds producing wind chill temps in the -20's. With sump heaters running for 24 hrs. in an unheated hangar cylinder head and oil temps rose to 50 degrees +/- 5. Preflight chores were, of course, performed inside the hangar including preheating the cabin with a kerosene torpedo heater. Pulling out of the hangar first required the use of a snow blower to remove 24" of wind packed snow from in front of the doors then the use of an all wheel drive ATV with studded chains on all four corners to pull out onto the ramp. Then run back inside with the tug and close the doors. Quickly change out of heavy insulated boots, insulated overalls and down filled parka to lighter boots and jacket then sprint back to the aircraft before all the preheating work was lost. At 1200' MSL in those temps density altitude was approximately 2000' below sea level resulting in a takeoff distance of maybe 800' off hard packed snow with scattered 4"-6" snow drifts and a 1200 FPM climbout at 130 MPH, lightly loaded. Just another nice mid-winter day for those of us living above 42 degrees N. Lat.
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