Wow! That's one hot saw!

I read once they closed the airport in phoenix due to excessive heat, something about made the air too thin and it messed up airplane flights.
I think it was back in the 90s.

You are correct that was June 26th 1990. Temp hit 123 F. The airplanes were only rated to 120 degrees so that grounded em. There was an article about in yesterday paper. now the planes are rated for 130 degrees so we should be OK.On a side note I was up in Calgary one time when the day time temps were running -40 and that when I learned that-40 F was the same as -40 C. Any how we got ready to leave the next morn and it was so cold that they delayed taking off because they the temp was lower then the temp reccomended for the liquid de-icer they were using. People ask me how I can stand the heat and my answer is at least I don't have to shovel sun shin.
 
Very possible, Allen. It's called density altitude. Basically it is the density of the air found at different altitudes given certain temperatures. It has a direct bearing on the lift generated by the wings. It is the altitude the airplane 'thinks' its at and it is expressed as altitude. The higher the density altitude, the less the lift. Less lift requires longer runways, but runways are not adjustable in length. You either have enough or you don't. Each aircraft has a service ceiling. In other words the maximum altitude supported by the wings before lift is no longer generated. If the density altitude is near or above your service ceiling, you best stay on the ground, or you will meeting it soon anyway. Ouch! Very serous stuff, especially for general aviation pilots, but commercial pilots are not exempt just because the wings on their craft are bigger.

I miss the days I was able to fly, but the cost has long since eluded me!
 
Just checked my saw. 109. Underside of roof? 140. Not as bad as there, but we are ramping up. Today is the cool day.
 
Very possible, Allen. It's called density altitude. Basically it is the density of the air found at different altitudes given certain temperatures. It has a direct bearing on the lift generated by the wings. It is the altitude the airplane 'thinks' its at and it is expressed as altitude. The higher the density altitude, the less the lift. Less lift requires longer runways, but runways are not adjustable in length. You either have enough or you don't. Each aircraft has a service ceiling. In other words the maximum altitude supported by the wings before lift is no longer generated. If the density altitude is near or above your service ceiling, you best stay on the ground, or you will meeting it soon anyway. Ouch! Very serous stuff, especially for general aviation pilots, but commercial pilots are not exempt just because the wings on their craft are bigger.

I miss the days I was able to fly, but the cost has long since eluded me!

Me too Carol :(
 
That's definitely smokin' hot!

I live in Phoenix the year the closed the airport - the underlying reason was that the specs for the planes in the US didn't have flap settings for that temperature because (as Carol noted) the air is a lot thinner at that temperature. The same planes regularly fly in and out of Saudi airports where the temps hit 130-140 but they had the settings defined whereas the US didn't at that time (the planes have enough lift but the programming has to support more extreme flap angles). The other problem was that some of the runways were asphalt at the time instead of concrete and the asphalt was starting to liquify and wouldn't hole the weight of the planes. This was in my el-cheapo grande phase and I didn't have AC at home or in the car so there was a lot of "hose down the porch, we're sleeping outside tonight" cause it didn't get below 100F all night long. I don't really miss that!

It hit just over 100F here today so we went up the mountain and got into the cooler air for a while. I started doing stuff out in the garage but at about 11:00 I was sweating so much my glasses had filled up and I couldn't see so figured that was well past time to bunch it.
 
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