by Pete Schoeninger
Email your questions to Pete@Flymilwaukee.com
Q: Last Winter when I pulled my airplane out of a heated hangar, it immediately was covered with frost on a couple of occasions. How can I prevent this?
A: If the hangar is small and you are the only occupant, turn off the heat, and open the door a little to allow your airplane skin to cool slowly. Ice is formed when your warm airplane surfaces heat humid air causing condensation, but then as the wing cools, that turns to frost/ice. Another thing some people do is to cover the wings and tail with plastic sheeting when they pull the airplane outside. Let the airplane cool a little (while keeping the engine heater plugged in if possible), then remove the plastic sheeting, which might contain a little ice or frost that might have been on your wings.