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Caravan Ice?

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Grumman guy

Type and Altitude unknown
Joined
Jun 22, 2004
Posts
115
I know there are alot of Van drivers on this board so I thought I would ask some advice on what to do/avoid/look for in regards to icing in the van.

Winter will be here soon and it will be my first in the Van so I would really appreciate some "Real World" advice.

Thanks in advance
 
I'm sure there are plenty of folks who browse this section with experience in the van, but I know you will get some great info from the guys in the cargo section.
have fun and be safe this winter.
 
The vans I flew were freight planes and looked every bit of it. Their boots were not kept in great shape so they didn't shed ice too well. I usually ended up blowing the boots in the descent to shed any residual ice. One time that really stuck in my mind was getting into some light freezing drizzle/rain...and then having the prop anti-ice fail. Trying to get out of that was fun.

Check out www.caravanpilots.com - it's a great site and there're some smart people on there.

Have fun in the Caravan! It's an awesome plane; I miss it! It does fine in ice as long as your brain isn't INOP. :)
 
Didn't the FAA in concert with Cessna come up with (new, special) icing encounter recommendations for Caravans recently?
 
I spent about 35 minutes in icing on Wed just to get current again. 6,000 feet was IMC and -2C. 4000 would have put me under it at plus freezing temps, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to turn on the igniters and pull out the inertial separator for a while.

I got down to 135 indicated with some mixed/clear icing and used the opportunity to remind myself to not get too comfortable with being in it.

If think of anything between now and tomorrow, I'll post it...don't have time right now.
 
My advice: Avoid it like the plague

Here's my experience.

I flew C207s around VFR in icing conditions. Basically my plan was to either climb up through it or descend down through it but there was no way in hell I would loiter in icing conditions in a C207.

Then I got checked out in a C208. Same plan. I don't care if it had boots, a hot prop/windscreen.

It's only good enough to climb through or descend through. You cannot loiter in icing conditions in the Caravan.

If you find yourself stuck in icing conditions be especially aware for ice forming aft of the boot. This is an emergency. You need to get out of that crap right now.

War story: One day I pushed it too far. I stalled in the flare. I count myself as one of the lucky ones.

Fly smart.
 
I'll add a bit to what Mar posted... I agree with ice forming aft of the boot; that requires immediate attention. What you also want to keep in mind is that the wing is a very fat airfoil and won't accumulate ice as quickly as the thinner horizontal stab.; it can be deceiving. Keep an eye on the wing strut and OAT probe for accumulation. I think the strut is pretty close in width to the horizontal stab, so that should give you an idea of what's forming behind you; ice on the back end can be really dangerous (tail stall). If you haven't seen NASA's icing video you ought to hunt down a copy because it's a great video and covers a lot on tail stalls and recovery. I had enough ice on the plane once while I was landing that it was incredibly mushy, but thankfully never stalled it. I flew the ILS with no flaps and a lot of airspeed, but in the flare it felt like there was nothing there. The normally very responsive controls felt like mush. And, like Mar also said, get out of ice as soon as you can. That is your best protection.
 
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Excellent point

CaravanMan said:
What you also want to keep in mind is that the wing is a very fat airfoil and won't accumulate ice as quickly as the thinner horizontal stab.; it can be deceiving.

I should've mentioned this. It's a very important point.
 
CaravanMan said:
I had enough ice on the plane once while I was landing that it was incredibly mushy, but thankfully never stalled it. I flew the ILS with no flaps and a lot of airspeed, but in the flare it felt like there was nothing there. The normally very responsive controls felt like mush. And, like Mar also said, get out of ice as soon as you can. That is your best protection.
Yea, the no flaps in icing is good policy...in addition, you might want to consider not making abrupt power changes until you got your wheels on the ground. When I have significant ice on the airframe, I usually fly it on, no flare. The stall will come on way before the bottom of the green arc, so if you are 10 feet up when you attempt a flare, you might be surprised.

Here's a test question: What's the speed limit on Caravan tires?

Also, when you're planning your approach, you might want to consider whether or not you'll have to do a circling approach. Our company prohibits circling approaches if you have airframe icing, but I would imagine a trace is not going to be a limiting factor if vis is up and the ceiling alows for a wider circling manuver.
 
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