P51 Pitot and Gun heat switches

I am wondering if there is any rules of thumb or recommended temperatures or altitudes of when to turn these switches on. Around what temps do pitot and guns start to need heat?

I am wondering if there is any rules of thumb or recommended temperatures or altitudes of when to turn these switches on. Around what temps do pitot and guns start to need heat?

i would turn on gun heat when your carb temp is around 0 celcius

pitot heat should be always ON imo unless its super warm

pitot heat should be always ON imo unless its super warm

Not necessary at all. OAT goes zeroish and there's precipitation, yah, just turn it on to be on the safe side though.

Except that DCS allows for pitot icing at altitude regardless of weather conditions.

The pitot on the A-10C freezes every flight above FL120 even in CAVU conditions over Nevada.

Except that DCS allows for pitot icing at altitude regardless of weather conditions.

 

The pitot on the A-10C freezes every flight above FL120 even in CAVU conditions over Nevada.

what about cocpit fogging ?? is it modeled ??

Hmmm... OK. Didn't think about that since I'm a groundpounder and usually stay low and slow.

Hmmm... OK. Didn't think about that since I'm a groundpounder and usually stay low and slow.

if you flying in day at good weather pitot is not esential to flying p-51 anyway you can eyeball every landing and take off

SOP is that pitot is turned on directly before take-off, ie while doing run-ups or directly on the runway. You don't turn the heating on while starting the engine, because without airflow the heating element can overheat and burn out.

It would be really dumb if you did not turn pitot heating on, bc you thought, "oh, I want be needing it at low altitude", and then you actually have to go higher up, and forget to turn it on. Ergo, always turn it on as a part of SOP. The same goes for the gun heating.

I don't recall ever having seen the canopy fog-up in winter or at high altitudes, and I've flown a lot in both.

Damn the SOP, I turn it on just before takeoff if I need it :D No, you guys are absolutely right, it never hurts to turn it on unless you do it too early and the heater element burns out because there's no airflow. But flying the Hip f.ex. I usually stay NOE and only use the deicers / anti-icing if I need them, because I don't want anything unnecessary switched on. But yeah, with the P-51 I should probably do what you do and just turn them on before takeoff...