Cirrus Vision Jet Oxygen & De-Icing Tips

1.  Oxygen- How long should you oxygen last (if not using it)?  How often are you filling it up? Do you have a leak?  I fly two specific aircraft and they differ somewhat.  One aircraft seems to always need topping off, and one only needs it every 100 hour service.  WHY? There are a  number of reason of course, but as we all know every time you flip the oxygen switch you loose anywhere from 4-8 PSI.  So if you are not already doing this, if you have multiple legs in one day…. ONLY switch it on the first time of the day, and then leave it on until the end of your journey.  This will cut down on the 4-8 psi loss.  However, if you do have a leak, this method might not work, and you will notice a greater loss, so that could be an indication that you do have a leak.

On one aircraft I manage, Cirrus has asked us to determine if the leak is only when it sits (off), or only when it is on.  Is it not an easy task to determine this, but if you monitor it, when it is OFF (not flying) and you don’t see much change, but you leave it on during your multiple day flights and you see more loss, they you can possibly determine which way it is leaking.   Also remember, the number you get on the oxygen is dependent on temperature, so you might see 1700 at sea level, but by the time you are up at altitude you will see maybe 1550, this is normal.  You can reference your AFM to see what the FILL number is at given temperature.  (this is the max for filling) So if you live in a cold, high climate you may see a smaller PSI.

2. IPS Systems:  Just a reminder that you should NOT use your TKS fluid below -30 degrees C.  And you should not use your boots below -40 degrees. Luckily there is usually not ice at these temperatures. If you were to encounter ice at these temps, this would be a serious weather issue, and you should find warmer temperatures immediately.

3. De-Icing:  Personally I have never had to Deice the Vision Jet, one way I have be able to avoid this happened to me by accident.  I went out to the plane one cold early morning above freezing, but my tactile inspection showed me a layer of thin frost all over the plane.  I contemplated what I was going to do, I decided to start wiping it off, that was taking forever, during the time I was working on it, a jet parked in front of me fired up its engines, and within 2 minutes the entire Vision Jet was clear.  Just the warm blast form the jet parking in front did the trick!  Wow, so maybe next time you have light ice/frost, ask them to park you behind the next departing jet, and you can avoid the cost and the caution of de-icing.