From Hangar to Sky: Aircraft Maintenance

We’ve all been taught to leave the doors or canopy cracked open while on the ground. It certainly helps with airflow, but it can only do so much. Once the doors are closed, the only relief to be found is at altitude. More than once, I’ve seen this race to cooler air cause pilots to rush critical tasks, let a door pop open, fail to follow proper procedures, or worse. For those aircraft or flights where reaching cooler temperatures at altitude isn’t an option, heat in the cabin can cause dehydration, distraction, and heat exhaustion—putting the safety of the flight at risk.

As with most technical challenges, cooling the cabin starts with understanding the problem. The heat effects that we experience while flying have two contributing factors: solar radiation and ambient air temperature.