Paris12Man
Well Known Member
I wanted to share my experience which happened this morning about 400' AGL right after T/O.
This morning was beautiful and a good day to go flying in N.E. Texas. The reported weather at Paris/Cox airport was Clear, Visibility 10+, Temp and Dew Point were two degrees apart. Fog crossed my mind, but I had plenty of gas in case something changed and fog showed up at my home airport.
My airplane is hangered and I had the oil heater on during the night to reduce the amount of time for engine warm up. Prior to T/O, the aircraft was outside in the elements about 10/15 minutes before takeoff. The engine run-up was normal and checklist was completed without issue. Therefore I began the T/O roll.
I was turning cross-wind when I noticed the canopy to begin to fog up. I always have a clean rag with me and I causally reached for it. I also opened up the outside vent on the pilots side. Forward visibility now was 100% gone! I still had some side visibility though. I immediately finished trimming the aircraft for climb then wiped my rag on the inside of the canopy and I expected the fogged up window to clear up.....to my amazement, the fogging was on the outside!
Now my altitude was about 600 AGL I headed in the general direction for Paris/Cox airport (much bigger airport than my home field just in case) and only about 2 miles away. I past 1000 AGL and the fogging effect cleared up as quickly as it appeared. I continued on my short flight plan and made several landings and T/Os in the local area without any issues.
I've been flying a pretty long time but I've never had that happen to me before. I guess it was the temp of my canopy and dew point temp but not sure. Just wanted to share and let everyone know to be prepared for the unexpected.
This morning was beautiful and a good day to go flying in N.E. Texas. The reported weather at Paris/Cox airport was Clear, Visibility 10+, Temp and Dew Point were two degrees apart. Fog crossed my mind, but I had plenty of gas in case something changed and fog showed up at my home airport.
My airplane is hangered and I had the oil heater on during the night to reduce the amount of time for engine warm up. Prior to T/O, the aircraft was outside in the elements about 10/15 minutes before takeoff. The engine run-up was normal and checklist was completed without issue. Therefore I began the T/O roll.
I was turning cross-wind when I noticed the canopy to begin to fog up. I always have a clean rag with me and I causally reached for it. I also opened up the outside vent on the pilots side. Forward visibility now was 100% gone! I still had some side visibility though. I immediately finished trimming the aircraft for climb then wiped my rag on the inside of the canopy and I expected the fogged up window to clear up.....to my amazement, the fogging was on the outside!
Now my altitude was about 600 AGL I headed in the general direction for Paris/Cox airport (much bigger airport than my home field just in case) and only about 2 miles away. I past 1000 AGL and the fogging effect cleared up as quickly as it appeared. I continued on my short flight plan and made several landings and T/Os in the local area without any issues.
I've been flying a pretty long time but I've never had that happen to me before. I guess it was the temp of my canopy and dew point temp but not sure. Just wanted to share and let everyone know to be prepared for the unexpected.
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