I just got back from a trip to Alaska, during their wettest summer since 1971.  Rain, rain, and more rain.  But we still had lots of fun on the trip.  Flying from Homer to Whitehorse, I climbed to flight level 190, the highest and coldest I've ever taken the Legacy. 

 

At 19,000' and very cold temperature, like 10°F below zero, the ailerons were quite stiff to move.  I could move the stick side to side with one hand, but I had to really push and it felt better to use two hands.  At first I wondered if all the water on the wing while sitting on the ground at Homer had frozen and caused interference.  But there was absolutely no hint of grinding or scraping that I could feel through the stick.  I had full aileron deflection at least as far as I was willing to push the stick side to side.  My wife was already starting to wonder what the hell I was doing with the stick so I figured that wasn't the time to do an aileron roll.  The stick was not hard to move and then break free and easy to move, it was as smooth as ever, just hard to move like I was flying through syrup.  It was not easier to push in some places and harder to push in others.  It was just like normal, but stiff throughout the movement range.   

 

After descending to lower altitude going into Whitehorse, the ailerons returned to their normal feel.  I looked after landing and couldn't see any reason for it but will take things apart tomorrow when I go to the hangar. 

 

Anyone else experienced stiff ailerons in a Legacy at high altitude and/or cold weather?

 

By the way, the temperature got as low as 17°F below zero on that leg and I had no cooling problems either for the oil or the cylinders.  It took 18 minutes to get to 19,000' using cruise climb speeds, which seemed pretty good considering I was around 2,350 pounds gross weight.  Once there, I had a TAS of about 210 knots and fuel flow was 10.5 gph. 

 

Dennis

Legacy