Pitot/static covers, yes or no? And what happens to avionics if you forget...

I think the argument against them, on the grounds that they can get missed during preflight, is not great. If you preflight is that bad, you will miss things like flat tyres…

Those plugs look great @emir

WilliamF wrote:

You can buy the pitot cover that blows off if you forget it anyway…

Don’t. In my experience, strongish winds blow them away when parked.

I’ve had the experience of flying with pitot cover on.

1. Pitot (on low wing Robin) left on. Instructor was in charge of doing the preflight, I saw the pitot cover but dismissed it as “he will remove it”. He didn’t. “Just” did a circuit back to land, but tower activated the firemen :) I was quite disconcerted by the wrong speed being displayed. I started flying much better when the instructor actually covered the instrument.
2. Pitot (on high wing Cessna) left on (…several times…). Usually because during the preflight I see it, make a mental note “I must remove it at the end of my preflight” and then forget. Well, obviously, I skipped the pitot heat check these times… Not the first flight of the day, and all that. This led to a walk of shame to remove it after I have already started the engine, because I see it from the cockpit before taxi. Never to taking off without it.

Flying pitch + power… I’m not able. Too many different types I fly, with too many different configurations (flap setting, gear). I just can’t memorise all these numbers. I know take-off & go-around pitch+power for the planes with glass cockpit, that’s it. The rest is “look at the ASI”. I find that on the small steam gauges AI small planes have, I can’t read the attitude with any precision anyway.

The way I was taught, a stable speed is part of an approach, so I watch it, along with the altimeter.

I have taken off with the pitot cover in place, just once. Unlike Maoraigh in post 22 I got a little flustered when I realised and didn’t just land back on.
After settling down I continued to my destination and made a rather nice, uneventful landing.

Later I told my flight examiner of the incident. She was quiet for a moment then said “the first time I did that…”
She went on to say that she had confessed the incident to her boss who then said “the first time I did that…”

One question to those pilots that actually took off with pitot cover on: How could that happen? Any special circumstances in these flights?

In my normal procedure, first check after setting power is “Airspeed indicator alive” and shortly after “70 percent takeoff speed”.
Therefore I would have 2 stage gates where I would reject takeoff if I left on the pitot cover – at least until the first time even those 2 stage gates don’t help and I take off anyways. Therefore the question what I should be aware of to move this day as far away in the future as possible…..

@Malibuflyer, in my case, the airspeed indicator was alive. It went rather normally to about 90%-95% of rotation speed, and then started to “wobble” a lot back and forth. The end of the runway was in sight, I was “close” to rotation speed, I pulled on the stick and the plane took off. So all your gates were passed successfully.

Wow – wouldn’t have expected that – thanks!

I think the answer depends on how close is the end of the runway at the point you are confident that airspeed indication is not appearing

There is a case for “taking a problem in the air” here and dealing with it up there. The plane will fly just fine after all. Well, unless it has modern avionics in which case a departure into IMC might be “rather interesting” if your backup AI is not easy to see.

That could be nasty… especially if the “modern avionics” disables autopilot functionality. Does anyone know if Aspen/Garmin kit supports autopilot operation with airdata lost?

One simply must check these things before departing. Same with the towbar. I once got close to doing a startup with one attached – as a result of a combination of distractions.

Malibuflyer wrote:

How could that happen?

I didn’t actually take off – very luckily a deltawing pilot told me on the radio while still on the taxiway. This was before my PPL so might not have been a happy ending: I’d just landed, so no pre-flight, and the aircraft was due at a neighbouring airfield for maintenance; the faster plane that was to bring me back had already taken off. A classic case of being in a hurry.

These are homemade covers, using a piece of wire looped in the middle to hang from a split pin. The wire keeps the triangular shape and makes them easier to see – when wet or windy the fabric can roll up very small.

In France at least we always use pitot and static covers in the summer. A mechanic once told me the pressure required from the compressor to clear out a fly’s nest and it was very high.