I was just wondering what the pitol heat switch does on the RV-6A. It has had me confused since i bought the add-on, so if any nice person would like to anwser that would be appreciated.

The pitot tube is a pressure measuring instrument which results in a measure of the aircraft's air speed. Trouble is that it ices up at altitude and so it needs a heater to stop this.

Hey Ghostkyle,

 

I haven't actually used it since the temperatures in Hawaii do not go that low but i'm guessing we will use it a lot in Alaska. Pitot heat prevents pitot tubes (small devices that measure air speed) from freezing. In real life, if pitots fail, the airplane and the pilot do not have any way of knowing how fast they're going and it automatically means that autopilot or autothrottle stop working. It also makes the flight very risky (especially in larger aircraft) since one can easily go into stall and such.

 

 

Cheers

Thank both of you very much, I must have spent at least an hour looking for an anwser.

You are welcome :) Glad we saved you some time.

 

 

Cheers