Diamondeye wrote:
That said, were you able to take off in those temperatures?
No, operations pretty much shut down at that temp, but by those days, I had cross trained into comm/computers, so I didn't have to be out on the flightline.
I did however have to drive to work at the datacenter. At 88 below, your car heater cannot heat your car. Even covering the radiator made no difference. I still had to scrape ice off the inside of my car windows every few miles.
The rubber door gaskets were frozen like solid rocks, making closing the doors very interesting.
The tires were hard like rocks too, and would get flat spots of you stopped for very long.
And mostly, it was just very very dangerous. 88 below will kill you in a heartbeat (or two) if you aren't prepared for it.
Fortunately, when it's that cold, its usually in a valley and there is no wind. If you drive up the hillside it will warm up 20 or 30 degrees to a toasty 50 below.