John Ferrell wrote:

> I used to fly a lot of single engine, real instruments flights. The
> preflight check for pitot heat was simply to observe the ammeter while
> switching it on/off.
> An instrument pilot is expected to have a good idea about what the
> airspeed is for a given power setting at a given altitude in level
> flight. The Pitot source affects only the airspeed indicator.
> While needle, ball and airspeed are considered adequate to fly on
> instruments, the Altimeter is the secondary (backup) airspeed indicator.
>
> On 3/14/2014 7:00 AM, BOB wrote:
> > The heaters in pitot tubes fail.  We used to check them on every pre an=
d
> > post flight inspection.  But then we could reach them from the ground
> > without stands or ladders.

My most interesting pitot failure was in of all things a J3 Piper
Cub that a bunch of us kept as a pet.  The ram air port injested a
big insect putting new meaning into system bug. (or debugging for
that matter)

For all the flying I did seeing the airspeed go to zero was a significant
shock. It is surprising how much it is used.

w..


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