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Pitot tube freezing.


Justin Case

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BTW I forgot to mention that the pitot heat was on from start up. :doh:

 

My point is, how do you know the air is dry?

 

Because the air is clear, no condensation has occurred. You will generally not encounter icing at such high altitudes unless there are storm cells near by, like AF447, and as far as I know we dont have storm cells of that magnitude in DCS.

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There MUST be moisture in the air for the pitot tube to ice over.

General for us, its visable moisture (clouds), and temperature less than 10 degrees C.

Humidity (and i could be corrected) on this shouldnt be able to cause pitot icong (people often think that it would because it can cause carb or induction icing). But the pitot tube does not have a venturi (look up bernullis principle if your curious) so the principles are different. As air temperature decreases to near freezing, the amount of moisture in the air also decreases. So at altitudes where the temperature is at or below freezing, there is often very little if any humidity or moisture.

Exceptions can occur based upon the dew point (point at which moisture will condense), where clouds form in sometimes below freezing levels.

 

Side note, avoid turning off pitot heat in any conditions not expected to cause icing, otherwise you risk buring out the pitot-heat (although im not sure if this is modled)

 

Cheers!

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