Heat Wave

[jkbrea]

This heat is crazy. I grew up in the desert and 110-115 is normal. A few degrees makes a BIG difference. I rode my Harley yesterday with my brother and a friend. Left early and rode up to Big Bear Lake. Beautiful ride in the mountains and only hit 86 degrees. We left late afternoon for my brother's place in Palm Springs. Wow. About 20 miles out the heat really intensified. My fingers felt like they were on fire from the wind. Like putting a blowdryer to your fingers. Clutch and brake lever were almost too hot to touch. We got to a watering hole about 5pm. It was 120 degrees! An ice cold beer never tasted so good. I had to leave at 6:30am to ride home. Its supposed to hit 122 out there today. It was 90 when I left but still a nice ride home to a comfortable 101. Live and learn.

[mod71alaska]

Ouch! Waaaaay too hot for me! Although it's been in the mid to high 80s here and very humid, which is too hot for me too!!!

[Blaine]

I feel your pain...The south west is bad juju when it's over a hundred.....

[Mescalero]

I was on the tarmack at Sky Harbor airport when our test bed 727 decided to attempt lift off at 122 degrees.
She made it, but she used every bit of runway Sky Harbor had!

[Blaine]

I was on the tarmack at Sky Harbor airport when our test bed 727 decided to attempt lift off at 122 degrees.
She made it, but she used every bit of runway Sky Harbor had!

The hot air (thermals?) don't have more lift? Cold air is heavy, and it don't hold ya down?

[Sixgun]

That's incredible! In my 58 years of living in Pennsylvania the hottest I have ever seen was 104. For me, (except for my job) life stops at about 90. The humidity has been very high here for the last week with thunderstorms almost everyday. About impossible to get the grass cut. That's OK, I'll take that over 122.---------------------6

[Thunder50]

I flew out of Alberquerque decades ago in a small plane. It was 140 on the runway and 105 otherwise, in the late afternoon. Didn't think I was going to be able to take off. It was a slow climbout. Kept the mixture kind of rich to help keep the engine cool somewhat. It was still hot at 10.5

[Old Savage]

Was supposed to have been 114 here today but never saw more than 109 on the freeway through Bakersfield and by 4:30 here never more than 109 heading in.

[Mescalero]

Turbine engine blades can not get a good bite on that hot air, can't push enough useable O2 through the system.

[AJMD429]

The hot air (thermals?) don't have more lift? Cold air is heavy, and it don't hold ya down?

I guess the density of the air would be significantly less, too, which seems like it would cause less 'lift' at a given velocity...????

[olyinaz]

Man, it's miserable.

I was on the tarmack at Sky Harbor airport when our test bed 727 decided to attempt lift off at 122 degrees.
She made it, but she used every bit of runway Sky Harbor had!

I remember that day! Our 727 database only went up to 120 deg F so we had no valid performance data when the temp. cracked over a buck twenty. BAM! Grounded until the temps dropped. That got someone at HQ burned (no pun) as executive management was not amused! (At that time we were a huge 727 operator and I think we must have had ten 727s sitting at Sky Harbor for hours that day.) We got with Boeing REAL quicklike after that and now our data goes to 140 deg F in standard manuals and databases, and when our guys are flying the 747s and 777s to the sandbox for airlift missions they take special data with them that goes even higher.

That said, NOTHING beats the sight of an old "water wagon" KC135 burning up every foot of the runway at Sky Harbor trying to get airborne in the summer heat back in the day! BLACK SMOKE baby!!

Hey I remember that 727, was it Air Research??

[olyinaz]

The hot air (thermals?) don't have more lift? Cold air is heavy, and it don't hold ya down?

I know yer just funnin', but no, cold/dense air makes more power and gives more lift. Hot/thin air is like already being up at 5-8000ft and you haven't left the deck yet! Barreling down the runway, flappin' yer wings, huffin' and a puffin'!

"Uh...Sam, we gonna get this hog off the ground sometime today??"

"ENGINEER! Check your numbers!"

[Nervous paper shuffling]

"They're good!"

"Here we go Bob, nothing to worry about. Must've had fifty feet to spare."

[Mescalero]

Oly, yes it was.
And for those of you in the know.
It was the rock group Foghat's old tour plane.

[Mescalero]

GOOD TO SEE YOU REMEMBER THAT DAY!!!!!!!!!!

[olyinaz]

Oly, yes it was.
And for those of you in the know.
It was the rock group Foghat's old tour plane.

"Slow Ride" was playing as they rolled down the tarmac.

[Mescalero]

I beleive it!

[Blaine]

All I know about flying is this: Ya got three things...Fuel, Altitude, and Luck....you need two out of three for a successful landing.....

[Griff]

Only thing I know about flying is: "There are bold pilots and there are old pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots."

But, I remember summers at Black Meadows Landing on Lake Havasu where the daytime temps would hit 125ºF, and a few higher, but the memory has blocked them, as even us kids wilted. The asphalt would ooze up between your toes! The adults would all be sitting neck deep in the water and kids would be runnin' amok! Gettin' up at daylight for a few hours of water skiing, lunch, then bakin' in the sun all afternoon and finally, an hour of skiing before dark.

[soon 2 retire]

It hit 80 deg. here yesterday; I think that only happened once or twice all last summer.



Bob in Friday Harbor

[JimT]

High today in Pemba of 80 F .... and here I am in Okiehoma!

[spencer516]

I was stuck on the tarmac at McCarren airport in Las Vegas. (Thank you allegiant air) The plane got there late, so they rushed us on board. Once we were onboard, we were trapped. No AC in a tin can in the desert at 117 degrees F. (Thanks Allegiant air.) It took an hour for the plane to cool down once we got in the air. Never again will I fly that airline., (thanks, Allegiant air)

[mod71alaska]

I was on the tarmack at Sky Harbor airport when our test bed 727 decided to attempt lift off at 122 degrees.
She made it, but she used every bit of runway Sky Harbor had!

The hot air (thermals?) don't have more lift? Cold air is heavy, and it don't hold ya down?

Cold air is dense and gives progressively greater lift to a plane's wing airfoil the colder it gets. Hot air the molecules are farther apart so the air is less dense. Hot air and high altitude (also less dense air) have the same effect on a plane's wing lift: less and less lift the hotter the air and higher the altitude. The worst combination for landing and take off is very hot ambient air temperature at high altitude. Denver is an airport that is susceptible to that dangerous combination of conditions.

[Sixgun]

Victor,
Thanks for the "Denver" thingy. That's the only place I fly.........well, USED to fly into. -------6

Just the thought of my Winchesters & Colts getting damaged in a crash gives me the heebi-jeebies

[gak]

I've now been through 47 Phoenix summers. Each year I forget "how bad" and am surprised (??) Very odd how we're all hoping for a mere 105-108 --aka "normal"--like it'd be a cold wave! But you can tell the difference. 110 is one threshold (merely really hot) 115 the next (sizzling), and as we found out 120 the next, (unthinkable furnace-our 119 Saturday counts). I worked near downtown on that 122 day 23 years ago and remember it and the mentioned flight restrictions well. As someone else mentioned, seems to me back in the 60s we had plenty of 110s and more than a few 115s--usually with about 2% humidity, the kind of weather Arizona was always famous for--and didn't think anything of it. With all our recent several decades' midwest and eastern transplants, I think their shock and awe over the heat is rubbing off on us natives and near natives (me)!

[Mescalero]

Wow!
Was it 23 years ago ???

[gak]

Wow!
Was it 23 years ago ???

Think so - as of last Wednesday I think.