MackSolo Team Update – Day 102 ✈️ 🌍
Mack is off, Mack is off!!! Exactly on #EidAlAdha, one of the most sacred days in the Muslim faith, and on the 102nd day into his journey - after a 5 and a half-week delay in Dubai - he has taken to the skies this morning heading for Pakistan! Woooohooooooo!!!!!!! 💪🕺🔥
Now, everyone keep your fingers and toes 🤞crossed for the next potential hurdles: Monsoon weather and the Japanese permit!
#Dubai, on the other hand, is like a hot pizza oven right now. Would this have had an impact on how Mack and Sharky took off this morning?
Yes, it would...
How so? Well, if you were the pilot of an aircraft and flying on a cool morning or evening, you would notice not only ample runway remaining before lift-off, but also how eager the airplane climbs. Fly on a hot, sticky afternoon, and the runway remaining before lift-off will be far less whilst the airplane would climb much slower, as well. In Dubai, that is not really an issue though, considering the runway is 4,5 km long, 😂🙃 but it might elsewhere 😅.
How does hot, humid air affect taking off and flying?
To fly, the wings, engine and propeller of an airplane, all need sufficient air for the lift and propulsion of the aircraft. The less air is "dense" or "compacted", the less flight performance there will be. It's called "density altitude".
What impacts air density? Pressure, temperature, moisture. Also known as the 3 Hs: High altitude, High temperature and High moisture reduce the capacity of an airplane to fly. Why?
PRESSURE is the weight 🏋️♀️ of air molecules. Gravity pulls air molecules as close as possible to the ground ⬇️ and these molecules push against each other ↔️. The higher ⤴️ air molecules go, the less there is gravity and pushing against each other. Weighing these air molecules is called "air pressure" and air pressure decreases as altitude increases. The air becomes "thinner". That is why pilots use oxygen masks above a certain altitude or Mount Everest climbers 🏔 use them for their final climbs.
TEMPERATURE 🌞 also affects density altitude. The amount of heat in the air makes air molecules move quickly 🔄 and push against each other. These active air molecules expand and rise fast ⤴️.
HUMIDITY 💦 also affects the performance of an airplane. Warm, moist air molecules rise even quicker than hot air, as water vapor is lighter than air.
So, knowing all this, how does a given location impact density altitude?
Well, if you were to fly on a hot, moist day even departing from a low-level airfield, this will impact how your aircraft can take off and fly. It might feel as if taking off from a much shorter runway, with a much heavier plane, or, from a much higher located airfield, or all three of them 😉.
In Mack's case, picture this. When he was taking off from the desert in Merowe (Sudan), the airfield was located at 900 feet (270m), but at a temperature of 45°C and a given pressure, it was as if Sharky was taking off from an altitude of 4700 feet (1400 m).
When taking off from Dubai, located at sort of sea level at 170 feet (50 m) and at a temperature of 34°, the density altitude (call it the altitude the plane "feels" it is at), would be 3000 feet (910 m). This is virtually 18x higher than the plane is actually at. Lots of accidents happen when pilots forget to take this into account. What are possible solutions?
Fly early or late in the day, when temperatures are cooler and there is less moisture in the air. Or, wait another day. This is why Mack mostly tries to take off first thing at dawn.
