Re: pitot heat question

Leave it on all the time.  Every checklist for a turbine airplane that I
have seen says to turn it on.  All airlines leave it on all the time.  Since
the heat is just a resistance element with no moving parts, I doubt that it
will "wear out faster" as others have suggested.  Mine have 4600hrs on them
and presumably they have been on all that time.

Mike
MU-2


"K. Ari Krupnikov" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Coming back from Mammoth this past Sunday and flying through a snow
> cloud West of the Sierras, I had the Pitot freeze over. I realized it
> was frozen when I tried to correct for altitude gained in turbulence
> and the airspeed indication didn't increase even as I pushed the nose
> down and could hear the relative wind increase. Not a big problem -- I
> could see where I was going on the AI, and a minute or less after I
> turned Pitot heat on, ASI returned to normal.
>
> This did raise a question -- is there a good reason Pitot heat isn't
> on all the time? It doesn't seem to be a big power drain, and unlike
> carb heat does not to my knowledge affect performance. Is there a
> reason I shouldn't turn it on when I put transponder on ALT and turn
> it off when I shut down electrics before engine shutdown?
>
> Ari.
>
> -- 
> Elections only count as free and trials as fair if you can lose money
> betting on the outcome.