Colyn wrote:

Good list.  

A lot of IVP drives say "stay out of the ice".

Does your list keep you out of the ice or just have you do something if you get in it?

Is that safe enough with that wing?

 

My Answer:

First, I consciously fly to avoid ice.  Then I know ahead of time what I am going to do if I encounter ice. 

Living in Washington State, I have more than enough opportunity to think this through. 

If there is ice forecast or reported, I will flight plan above or below the forecast level.  Above is preferred as the mountains are usually in the ice layers and you have more options.  Remember that the heaviest ice is usually at the top of the icing layer so climbing out, may not be an option.

First signs of ice.

I do something at the first sign of ice.  I usually climb, go to a level where ice is not reported, go between layers and know that I can go somewhere to get out of ice—down to warm air, back where I came from—somewhere-- and I know where that somewhere is.

Choose your descent paths carefully.

The STAR let down into the Seattle area from the east is over the mountains to levels that usually contain the ice.  If there is ice being reported then I will request a let down over the Seattle area, so I can descend directly into warm air. If there is not warm air below, this is a no go.  Note:  On one occasion, I picked up ½” ice in 1500’ descending at 1000 fpm.  If I had done the STAR let down and leveled off over the mountains, this would have been really ugly at best and worst would be an NTSB report.  If they had not given me the let down over Seattle, I would have done a 180.  THIS WAS A DECISION I MADE BEFORE I LAUNCHED. Seattle ARTCC is really great at accommodating us on such occasions.

Choose your climb routes carefully.

I will climb where the clouds aren’t.  If I see dark clouds looming on my climb out and lighter clouds 40 degrees to the right, I will request a climb to the lighter clouds.  I will also climb where WxWorx Nexrad returns show areas of less or no precipitation. I have on rare occasions climbed in the opposite direction I am going to get above the icing reported over the mountains and then cross over the mountains. 

Avoid Precipitation:

Since I have been flying with WxWorx (2+  years), I have had only one instance of getting some ice on that was more than just a slight trace.  I attribute this to the ability to stay away from precipitation.  These planes are so fast, that diverting just is not that big of a deal.  I fly around areas of heaviest precipitation to areas of no precipitation or very light precipitation.  On 2 occasions I have flown over 100 miles diverting around thunderstorms.  I don’t even think twice about doing this, I just go around.

Performance degradation:

So what is my experience of ice on the plane?  I have had up to ½”  of rime ice on the leading edge.  It slows the plane about 10 kts and decreases the rate of climb to about 500-700 fpm from 1000-1200 fpm.  There are no other noticeable effects on the flying characteristics of the plane.  I have always flown to an area of warm air before landing so I don’t know about the effects on approach speeds.  I do know that if I had ice still on, that my approach speeds to landing would be faster than normal to prevent a tail stall.  I would use 120 kts to touchdown in this instance.

Another pilot returning from OSH over Montana, entered a build up at FL240, had a hard time keeping the blue side up and feels lucky to be alive.  He put on large hail balls on the leading edge of 1.5”, took off paint on the cowling and lost one strobe lens.  He landed ASAP to survey the damage.  He reports that there were no problems with flying the plane with all the ice on. 

This is not intended to embolden you, only to get you to think through all the scenarios and outs.

Carl Cadwell, IVP, N25CL