Delay Gear Extension in icing?

[airplane wizard]

On the Cessna 172, we usually fly with the gear down.

 

[Fltlvls]

On the Cessna 172, we usually fly with the gear down.

Unless it's a C-172 RG

 

[JAFI]

On landing, same procedure as usual to put them down, but we will turn the antiskid off and pump the brakes a few times to brake any ice that could have formed on the brakes.

How do you know that all you did was put the brakes on and then they froze in the ON position? You have no indication that the brakes sprung back in the open position. If you are looking at HYD pressure it would depend where on the brake line the pressure for that guage is measured to show if the brake shoes moved or not or you may not be able to tell at all.

And turning the anti-skid off may work on some aircraft but not others. I've flown aircraft that you could pump the brakes all you wanted, gear up or down and not effect the anti-skid. Some aircraft you were not to touch the brakes until after spin up or you would go into wheel lock. It all dependa on how the system worked.

Unless the manufacturer approves that procedure, You may want to be careful making up your own.

To the question of no gear in icing on approach, for me it would have to be "insane" icing and it would beg the question "why were you landing/flying in conditions you think your aircraft is not capable of operating?"

 

[NEDude]

I fly the Dash 8 and only once did I hold off on the gear. It was really good icing. But then again look how the Dash 8's Landing gear hangs out.

I believe the CommutAir 1900D's were equiped with Brake Deice. Hot Bleed air Lines ran down to the brakes. Great option for flying in the North East.

The 1900D's came with them and we operated with them for a bit, but then in a money savings issue it was disabled. The first winter without brake de-ice there were a few issues of frozen brakes until we all learned the dos/donts.

 

[cldsfr79]

I flew with a guy who insists that you should wait to extend the landing gear while in icing conditions. He said the brakes could not work if you leave the gear down in icing. Being a former frieght dog I was surprised I had never heard of this. What say you guys?

I have never heard of this. Some guys touched on the fact that some companies/manufactures recommend a delayed gear retraction in icing conditions.

Maybe he is mistaken and confused the procedure.

I hope he's not one of those captains that make stuff up, I hate that. Just follow your SOPs and do your job. I flew with this guy years ago that told me the autopilot must be on at 1000 feet. I asked where he read it and he said "the SOPs". So like a good FO at the time, I went back to find this interesting bit of information and could not find it. Long story short, it wasnt in the SOPs, AFM, FOM etc., he finally said "I heard it in recurrent one day" and that was the end of the discussion. So for the rest of the trip he flipped on my autopilot (without telling me of course) eveytime we got to a 1000 feet.

 

[xjcaptain]

Not sure, but possibly the original poster may have been hinting at delaying gear extension until required. What I am getting at is I have seen many many newer pilots dangle the dunlops as soon as the GS comes alive on approach. Too bad we were 20 miles out and thousands of feet above the gsia at the marker. In even moderate icing you can build a lot of ice on the main gear if they are extended that far from the runway. Will this cause you to fall out of the sky...? Probably not. But what it has done many times is prevent a successful up-lock on a go-around because of the ice contamination. So now most checklists will have you attempt a recycle and if unsuccessful you lower the gear and leave them down. Now you are in icing for a long long time with the gear down all because you put them down way too early on approach. Sometimes a little "technique" and "common sense" can prevent bigger problems. Should you wait till 10 seconds from touchdown, heck no, but don't configure until a reasonable distance from the runway. Too many guys are accustomed to gear at glide-slope. They forget how high and how far out they are. This comes from experience, and it seems the less experience people have, the more they would like aviation to be an absolute, where things are only done one way, and that is what makes them comfortable. With experience you can modify the details based on conditions to maximize safety.

 

[Flyer1015]

I flew with a guy who insists that you should wait to extend the landing gear while in icing conditions. He said the brakes could not work if you leave the gear down in icing. Being a former frieght dog I was surprised I had never heard of this. What say you guys?

Just do a gear-up landing. Then you don't have to worry about getting ice stuck on the wheel brakes. Problem solved.