What are your weather limits in DA42?

Any DA42 related topics.

Moderators: Rick, Lance Murray

Post Reply
Oxymoron
2 Diamonds Member
2 Diamonds Member
Posts: 15
Joined: Sat Mar 30, 2019 7:30 pm
First Name: Ric
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: GCOOL
Airports:
Has thanked: 1 time

What are your weather limits in DA42?

Post by Oxymoron »

I'd be interested to hear of other DA42 pilots weather limitations in DA42 in terms of forecasted weather? Where do you draw the line in terms of icing, CBs, etc?

Particularly for non-radar aircraft.
User avatar
CFIDave
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 2678
Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2012 3:40 pm
First Name: Dave
Aircraft Type: OTHER
Aircraft Registration: N333GX
Airports: KJYO Leesburg VA
Has thanked: 231 times
Been thanked: 1473 times

Re: What are your weather limits in DA42?

Post by CFIDave »

One limit I experienced flying my DA42-VI was maximum crosswinds. The only time I've ever run out of rudder authority (i.e., one foot pedal pushed in all the way) was landing with reported 29 knot wind gusts perpendicular to the runway. In this situation I landed at CYXU (at Diamond in London, Ontario) in the winter on a plowed runway, with drifting snow making the strong crosswinds visible. But it was actually more difficult taxiing after landing, since the winds tried to force the plane to weathervane into the winds when rolling on icy taxiways. (I've never tried using differential power to counter strong crosswinds while landing.)

My DA42-VI did not have onboard weather radar in the nose, so I used SiriusXM satellite weather (which unfortunately only exists in North America). But even with SXM, I never tried crossing a forecast solid line of CBs -- I always cancelled or delayed the flight. The thunderstorm exception was for summertime "air-mass" thunderstorms that made it possible to navigate visually between individual towering cumulous clouds and cells -- this generally required flying on O2 at higher altitudes in the mid-teens in order to maintain VMC.

I will fly with forecast icing, since it usually doesn't materialize, and even if it does, it's usually possible to change altitudes to quickly get out of icing while employing the DA42's TKS system. But I may not fly if there are widespread icing PIREPS at the altitudes and locations along my projected route, or icing reported at low altitudes where I have to fly an instrument approach.
Epic Aircraft E1000 GX
Former DA40XLS, DA42-VI, and DA62 owner
ATP, CFI, CFI-I, MEI
User avatar
Colin
5 Diamonds Member
5 Diamonds Member
Posts: 2006
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 8:37 pm
First Name: Colin
Aircraft Type: DA42
Aircraft Registration: N972RD
Airports: KFHR
Has thanked: 319 times
Been thanked: 527 times

Re: What are your weather limits in DA42?

Post by Colin »

I am pretty much with Dave, just lower numbers. When I first moved up to the DA42 my crosswind limit was 16kts and it is current 19kts. Working my way up.

And I'll launch if there is icing predicted, but only if there's a lot of VFR below and if the ceilings have been reported so I know what my climb time is.
Colin Summers, PP Multi-Engine IFR, ~3,000hrs
colin@mightycheese.com * send email rather than PM
http://www.flyingsummers.com
N972RD DA42 G1000 2.0 s/n 42.AC100 (sold!)
N971RD DA40 G1000 s/n 40.508 (traded)
User avatar
neema
4 Diamonds Member
4 Diamonds Member
Posts: 285
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 5:43 am
First Name: Neema
Aircraft Type: DA62
Aircraft Registration: N617DC
Airports: KFAT
Has thanked: 40 times
Been thanked: 97 times

Re: What are your weather limits in DA42?

Post by neema »

I'm in the SXM Nexrad but no onboard weather radar club. Looking into putting onboard weather back in the nose. I've flown through nexrad medium returns which must have been concentrated at one altitude, giving new meaning to a sporty ride, as well as returns that were benign. It's different if you have visual and can fly around stuff.


Because of that, it's been hard to define go/no-go minimums. There's usually a good slug of research using the GFA on aviationweather.gov and my newfound toy, the veritcal cross section chart below, before I launch. Night flights or lots of embedded stuff takes a good 10 minutes of figuring out other options, ways to fly around/above/below.

Then there are crappy days like this where the inboard TKS panels took longer than 30 min to start flowing


Image
User avatar
blsewardjr
4 Diamonds Member
4 Diamonds Member
Posts: 485
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:19 pm
First Name: Bernie
Aircraft Type: DA40
Aircraft Registration: N377DS
Airports: KCHO
Has thanked: 118 times
Been thanked: 146 times

Re: What are your weather limits in DA42?

Post by blsewardjr »

Neema- Thanks for the heads up on the vertical cross section chart in FF. I didn't realize that you can access that if you change your briefing format to graphical (PDF) (vice graphical (HTML).
Bernie Seward, IR, AGI
2003 DA40 N377DS
KCHO Charlottesville, VA
Post Reply