Heated pitot on 14-19-2 ?

slackl

slackl

Member
Hello.

Guys.
I've got a problem. Pitot on my cruisemaster is not heated and is an old-style metal tube with integrated cover, which opens as the speed rises.
Last weekend the weather was around zero Celsius. I've made a preflight, checked pitot and cover movement twice. And took off.
Few minutes of taxiing from apron to runway was enough for cover to ice to the pitot and I had to abort take-off as I had to speed indication.

Sprayed some silicon over it at this was enough for MOST of the day. But this issue repeated later the same day.

My questions are:
1. Had anyone replaced Cruisemaster's default pitot with a heated one ? Preferably keeping "look&feel" :)
2. How do you fight with pitot cover icing in case your pitot is not heated ?
 
I had one on my Cruisair. Initially drew ~20 amps and then decreased to ~10amps as it warmed up. Really made me aware of my electrical system and revised it with a field approval accordingly. Cruisair has a 5 amp generator.

Larry
 
I have on on the crate from a Super Viking. These boys draw a good bit of juice and get very hot. Not cheap but lots of Vikings in the Wentworth scrap yard. Lynn
 
one nice things about antique airplanes is that it is highly unlikely that any faa ramp check will be done by someone who has actually seen one before. in the ussr there is no chance that anyone will notice. if you plan on flying ifr, a heated pitot is on my list of required equipment, and i (used to) turn it on whenever i was in the clouds. they do use a lot of power, consider an alternator. now i just stay out of clouds.

on my cruisemaster, the pitot attach point seems to be much closer to the leading edge and the long rod is much shorter. i don't know if mine was moved at some point or they changed the design later (mine is a '57). but i think i could mount a standard heated pitot from spruce with no problem at all. it may just be the picture. i also don't have the nifty ice attractor on the tip, i just put a cover on it when it's not flying. that thing probably takes 5 kts off your cruise.

ps had a nice yak 9 make several very low passes at the strip today. it was cool. one of the neighbors even complained. she said it woke her up and she thought she was in "top gun". i got some good video. it was moving fast. i want one real bad. if i had the money. first decent flying day in a week.

bobg
 
Slack,
That looks like the pitot I have on my master, but I don't have the clamp on cover.
Would it be possible to just remove the flop down cover since it sounds like your problem is the cover hinge freezing?
I think if I were to go through the trouble of installing a heated pitot, I would probably switch to an alternator to keep up with the power requirements.
-Adam
 
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