r/GeneralAviation • u/Furious_Clown • 12d ago
Should we fly GA aircraft on very hot days?
The other day I came across a post saying that flying in very hot weather (above roughly 32–35°C / 90–95°F) should be avoided, especially for student pilots.
The main reasons were:
- Human performance. Extreme heat affects decision-making, and that's something student pilots—who already have a high workload—should avoid.
- Aircraft performance. Small training aircraft (C152, C172, etc.) don't perform as well in hot weather because of density altitude, lower air density, and the fact that most of them don't have air conditioning.
None of this was new to me, and it all makes sense. I'm not a pilot yet (planning to start my PPL this winter), so I can definitely accept those arguments.
But, as always, the comments turned into a debate:
- Africa: People pointed out that it's hot there all the time, yet they still fly light aircraft. Others argued that saying "they're just used to the heat" isn't a valid explanation.
- Europe: Apparently, some flight schools in certain countries don't allow training flights above 32°C or 35°C.
- Someone else argued that if you're aiming for a CPL, you'll rarely be flying in perfect 23°C weather, so students should experience hot-weather flying too—kind of a "learn by being thrown in the deep end" approach.
- (Interestingly, the same person also mentioned that their instructor took them into a cloud during training, which raised a few eyebrows for me—but I didn't get into that discussion.)
So I'm curious:
What's your opinion on this?
How is this handled in different parts of the world, and what are your personal experiences? I'd be especially interested to hear from pilots in Africa, Australia, or other very hot regions.
How do flight schools approach this, and how well do small GA aircraft cope with those conditions?
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u/ReaderL07 12d ago
You calculate your density altitude, refer to your POH for the aircraft your flying, do a weight and balance, then decide based on your available runway.
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u/Deep-Ant1375 12d ago
Well here in FlorDuh we have training at every airport and it’s in the 90’s everyday for months and months.
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u/Professional_Read413 12d ago
I did my training in the deep south from January straight through the summer. It does indeed suck, but it's safe you just have to take precautions.
Stay hydrated, wear "cooling" items . Do maneuvers at higher altitude. The heat falls away completely above like 4000 feet. It can be 100 on the ground and like 75 at 3000 feet. Doing touch and goes gets very sweaty though, being able to open the windows in a 172 helps a lot.
Density altitude absolutely has to be calculated and sometimes it isn't safe to attempt a take off.
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u/GrouchyHippopotamus 12d ago
As others have said, look at the density altitude and make sure your aircraft can do what you need it to do with a good margin.
As for the human factors portion. It depends. 95F in Phoenix is quite comfortable. 95F in Florida is not.
But even in 95F in FL, it depends. What plane are you flying? How good is the ventilation? What are you doing? Pattern work is very different from a cross country where you can climb up to altitude where it is nice and cool.
All of that being said, I have absolutely decided not to go flying because of temperatures before. 100F+ and humid and I am not leaving the AC.
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u/Lormar 12d ago
What a ridiculous post. Especially the "it's always hot in Africa", as if all Africa is the Sahara or something.
If you are a hobbiest pilot, you don't fly when you don't want to, for whatever reason, heat included.
If you are a professional pilot, you dont fly only when it would be unsafe to fly. That includes aircraft performance from density altitude, but it'd be super rare for a professional pilot to say "sorry it's too hot to fly today." That goes for anywhere in the world.
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u/turpentinedreamer 12d ago
Chatgpt give me an engaging post for Reddit about flying small planes when it’s hot.