Hot.....

[Snapshot]

PHOENIX - With record heat in the forecast, pilots and passengers are remembering back to that 122-degree day in 1990 when it was so hot that jets couldn't take off from Sky Harbor International Airport.

Some often wonder if it could happen again. The answer, according to American Airlines, is “yes and no.”

Airplanes don’t perform as well in thin air and air gets thinner when temperatures rise. The hotter the temperatures, the longer an airplane will spend on the runway trying to get up to takeoff speed.

 

Pilots know exactly how much runway they need for takeoff thanks to detailed performance charts. In 1990, none of those charts went above 120 degrees.

"You could extrapolate and you could guess. [but] we don't fly passengers around on guesswork,” said Jim Tilmon, an aviation expert and former American Airlines pilot. “Nobody had thought of taking off when the temperature was 120-some degrees.”

 

American Airlines told ABC15 that all the performance charts for large jets have long-since been updated for higher temperatures and the airline has no worries about delays for those scheduled flights. However, not all small regional aircraft have updated charts.

“If the temperatures rise to the extent that it would inhibit our calculations of weight and thrust for ‘lift’ accurately, then we cannot take off, so we may proactively delay some departures until the air temperature reduces,” said John Daley, American Airlines managing director at Phoenix Sky Harbor, in an email.

Tilmon said airplanes will still fly in extreme heat, but to do so without accurate data is not only unsafe – it’s illegal.

“You didn't want to pretend you had the right numbers and you didn't. That's called guesswork and that's called an accident...and yes, illegal,” said Tilmon.

Tilmon has a cautionary tale from many years ago when the airline industry wasn't quite as careful calculating hot weather. A discrepancy between the temperature at the tower and the temperature on the runway caused him a dicey takeoff on a hot day in Tucson.

“I'm looking down at the end of the runway and it was coming up pretty dang fast,” said Tilmon, adding that his flight crew had to turn off the air conditioning system mid-runway to find the extra power needed to get the wheels off the ground. “It was said that we made a rooster tail across the desert that we were so low.”

[TRKHNTR]

darn hot up here in Pinetop 92 but 74 inside without air-conditioning soI'm not paying the power companies $300+ a month to keep it there.

[trphyhntr]

my a/c hasnt turned off all day

[5guyshunting]

At 4:30 pm my thermometer on the north side of the house in the shade was showing 124.

[Snapshot]

Tucson hit an official 115 degrees today. 2 degrees shy of the June 117 degree record.

 

All I know....is that it was super hot, and it really sucks.

[AZ8]

Well, according to the NWS, the official temp for Phoenix was 118, which broke the old record of 115.

 

My thermometer got to 120 here in Mesa.

 

And tomorrow I gotta work in it! What's the sick call number again!?

[25-06]

At this point I hate tucson. I wanna move so far north that people who live there never even heard of a ac unit.

[creed]

Hit 129 at my house, 133 at my daughter's a couple of hundred yards north of me. I think those numbers are probably pretty close. We live in a hot spot.

 

[trphyhntr]

Is your thermometer on asphalt?

[daryl_s]

It's almost always a little hotter than reported on the news. The weather station at Trilogy Golf course at Power and Queen Creek hit 122° between 3 and 4pm today.

[AZ8]

Got this info from the NWS.

--------------

The following directions apply to all types of thermometers, from classic mercury thermometers to new-age digital temperature sensors.

 

1. Place the thermometer 5 feet above the ground (+/- 1 ft.). A thermometer too low will pick up excess heat from the ground and a thermometer too high will likely have too cool of a temperature due to natural cooling aloft. 5 ft. is just right.

 

2. The thermometer must be placed in the shade. If you put your thermometer in full sunlight, direct radiation from the sun is going to result in a temperature higher than what it should be.

 

3. Have good air flow for your thermometer. This keeps air circulating around the thermometer, maintaining a balance with the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is important to make sure there are no obstructions blocking your thermometer such as trees or buildings. The more open, the better.

 

4. Place the thermometer over a grassy or dirt surface. Concrete and pavement attract much more heat than grass. That is why cities are often warmer compared to suburbs. It is recommended to keep the thermometer at least 100 ft. from any paved or concrete surfaces to prevent an erroneously high temperature measurement.

[Hoss50]

I sell air conditioning units. It has been a busy last couple weeks and I don't think this week will be any different.

[AZ8]

.

 

[Coach]

I think the first time I burned my hand by grabbing the doorknob from my garage to the outside, while living in Cave Creek was when I decided it was time to move to the mountains. Now I only have fires to contend with.

[creed]

Got this info from the NWS.

--------------

The following directions apply to all types of thermometers, from classic mercury thermometers to new-age digital temperature sensors.

 

1. Place the thermometer 5 feet above the ground (+/- 1 ft.). A thermometer too low will pick up excess heat from the ground and a thermometer too high will likely have too cool of a temperature due to natural cooling aloft. 5 ft. is just right.

 

2. The thermometer must be placed in the shade. If you put your thermometer in full sunlight, direct radiation from the sun is going to result in a temperature higher than what it should be.

 

3. Have good air flow for your thermometer. This keeps air circulating around the thermometer, maintaining a balance with the surrounding environment. Therefore, it is important to make sure there are no obstructions blocking your thermometer such as trees or buildings. The more open, the better.

 

4. Place the thermometer over a grassy or dirt surface. Concrete and pavement attract much more heat than grass. That is why cities are often warmer compared to suburbs. It is recommended to keep the thermometer at least 100 ft. from any paved or concrete surfaces to prevent an erroneously high temperature measurement.

 

 

Her thermometer is probably not in a good place. She is always 3 degrees hotter than mine. I hit 129. Regardless, it was one miserable day and today isn't going to be much better.