Carb Heat in IMC

[F16fixer]

Wow,
By the sounds of it, Avbug could be departing out of Saudi Arabia at high noon in July and would probably pick up carb ice.
My best guess is that it depends on the Make/Model. I fly all kinds of Pipers, mainly Archers and Warriors for the teaching side of things. I live in Mn. We know a thing or two about cold weather. Last spring was probably the best IMC teaching environment we've had in awhile. I can't tell you how any times I made my students fly in actual from one end of the state to the other (a little sarcasm) while being in the clouds at 4,5 or 6,000ft and having temps in the perfect range for carb icing and never having a problem.
Not to say that I won't, but I guess I've been lucky so far. We would check it periodically, but never a trace. (With the info that we had at our disposal)

Most of the time we had a 3,000 ft cig and then a 3-4,000 foot high clouds which is perfect for teaching in. Anything remotely goes wrong and your right above break out altitude with plenty of room to spare. This proved to be invaulable for my students.

On another note, I would really push your instructors to take you into actual if the situation permits. I remember a couple of CFIIs who openly admitted that they have never flown IMC single pilot, and they would not want to if they were asked to right now. The main reason was that they didn't have hardly any actual time to begin with, and they teach the stuff!

 

[WMUchickenhawk]

I got my ticket back in May, didn't file an IFR flightplan till last week. Love it...

For currency, do the 6 approaches need to be actual/simulated ? I flew the ILS the other day, without the hood since I was alone.

Wow, that sucks for you guys. I havent even got my rating yet, and I have almost 3 hours of actual. Granted 2 of it was on my IFR cross country. There's nothing like actual. Im sure for the more experienced guys its routine, but my 3 hours of it were pretty amazing.

 

[Tinstaafl]

My previous job was based in the Shetland Islands flying carburettor equipped BN2 Islanders. The Shetlands are a group of islands in the North Sea between Scotland, Norway & the Faroes. They're the most northerly inhabited part of the UK @ ~60 deg N.

We flew winter & summer, day & night in often filthy weather on inter-isle flights and medical evacuations from the outer isles or 190nm further south to Scotland. Carby icing was 'normal', occuring on nearly every flight. It soon became habit to apply carby heat every 10 or 15 mins or so - or more often if MP kept dropping - as well as every time power was reduced to approach settings and always before take-off. Occasionally I needed to keep carby heat on for extended periods in the cruise. If an extended period was required then I'd readjust the mixture to suit the new air density.

After a while one didn't really give it much thought. It just became a habit no different to adding power to climb or leaning the mixture etc.

 

[jafo20]

What does a guy do in his off time in the Shetland Islands? Are the locals friendly? Do you get blue during the winter?

 

[Tinstaafl]

Sorry about the delay replying. Tried several times but the system kept refusing to post my comments. D@mned if I know why...

Shetland is like most places: If you're a reasonably laid back sort of bloke the locals are just as friendly. Like the rest of the UK, pubs are numerous & are often a focal point of getting together with friends.

I never got blue during the loooong winter nights. Just bloody cold. I'm a bookworm & like mucking around with computers & various operating systems so that kept me occupied when I wasn't out & about with friends I made.

 

[dmspilot00]

Cessna 150s, with the continental engines, tend to be more susceptible to carburetor ice than 152s with Lycomings.

I do agree that 150s seem to get icing more than 152s, however, I always believed that it was because of the position of the air intake rather than the type of engine. The intake on Cessna 150s, and 172s, are right on the front of the cowling, while the intake on the 152 is hidden away underneath.

I did all of my private training in a 152 and never had carb ice. The very first time I flew in a 172, on my checkout flight actually, I expereicned carb ice. OAT was around 70 I believe. Anyway, my point is that both airplanes had Lycomings.

A Squared gave an example of how two 180s with the same engine, but different intake systems, had very different carb icing experiences--so that seems to go along with what I just said. Of course, all of this is anecdotal evidence... I don't know if anyone's ever done statistical research on which airplanes or engines are more likely to get carb ice than others, so who knows.

 

[dmspilot00]

AvBug,

Certainly there must be a safe way to conduct flight in instrument conditions in a single engine airplane. A friend of mine owns a 172 with a standby vacuum system, and I believe (not sure) the 172 R and S models have two vacuums and two alternators. Where do you draw the line between safe and unsafe? How much redundant equipment should you have?

When you say IFR in a single-engine isn't safe...do you mean flying when the weather is near minimums, or flying in a cloud period? I would like to conduct flight in single-engine IMC for the experience, but I don't want to risk my life for it. If the weather is relatively high ceilings (high enough to permit enough time to find a field and land in it if you lose an engine) and thin cloud decks, it could be safe to fly IFR in a typical GA plane, couldn't it?

 

[Joseph II]

Mr. Dickensheets,

I find your name quite funny.