Ice?

[memooch]

Hello All! Does anyone have actual icing stories (um...non-fiction only, please, and without deicing equipment) and how they resolved it? I'm curious what folks have done to save their backsides in icing situations.

Thanks!

 

[BD King]

Without going into my stories, get a copy of Ernest Gann's, FATE IS THE HUNTER, or Dean Smith's, BY THE SEAT OF MY PANTS.

 

[Jedi_Cheese]

Pitot heat and turned on cabin heat in the mighty 172! Eventually the ice became heavy enough and we were forced to decend. Man, was the instructor pissed b/c we were able to log some actual!

 

[jergar999]

An old freight dog I used to fly with has a pretty good story about shooting an ILS in a Bonanza in severe icing. As he got to the bottom he actually had to use a credit card and reach out the window to scrape the windsheild so he could see to land. I'm not sure if its true or not, but his hand twiches when he tells the story.

The only real icing story I have was flying a King Air 90 into Denver Centennial. In cruise at about 15000 feet it was icing up almost as fast the boots would shed it. I got a descent, and as soon as I started down a chunk of ice broke off the nose and shattered the outer pane of the right windsheild. I made a precautionary landing in Fort Collins, got a ferry permit to take it to Denver unpressurized and get it repaired.

 

[FN FAL]

Hello All! Does anyone have actual icing stories (um...non-fiction only, please, and without deicing equipment) and how they resolved it? I'm curious what folks have done to save their backsides in icing situations.

Thanks!

I have a story about getting caught in light freezing drizzle in a Caravan one night. It was the same night "priority air" lost a Caravan over by the Minnesota/Wisconsin state line. I will respond to your querry on tuesday, when I have more time.

I will say this much, I knew I was going to get to the warm side of the front before doom because of "PIREPS" from company guys in the same crap. The brake calipers had football sized shapes on them, I had at least (if not more) a 1/4 inch of clear ice from the aft edge of the boots all the way to the trailing edge of the bottom of the wing. I was placing the orange triangle on TOP of the Command Bars of the flight director to hold altitude at a indicated speed of 120 knots. The prop heat was doing a good job, but I was cycling prop RPM like someone that had a neurotic habit, in order to remedy prop imbalance. One time I hit a bubble of plus freezing air and had so much of an increase of airflow to the engine, that I almost recorded an exceedance on the PAR black box, before I could re-adjust back to max continious.

I forget which way I was crabbing on the cold and warm sides of the front, but it didn't matter because each way it was at least 40 degrees crab angle or more and my ground speed was 90 knots...even before I my airspeed dropped from the ice.

Sad part was that tops were reported at 12,000, but we could never get there...one of guys tried that and on the way back down, he couldn't level off at his previously assigned altitude...lucky for him, he reached the front before he put his seat in the dirt.

Here's a link to the "priority air" crash, something to read while you're pondering ICING...

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief2.asp?ev_id=20020326X00397&ntsbno=CHI02FA093&akey=1

By the way, this guy's flight path was going to keep him on the north side of a front that ran east to west. The front was running abeam Green Bay. Take a look at his destination and departure airports. Also note that he was flying as an adhoc because UPS feeder pilots refused to pick up the freight...also note that the freight was only 100 pounds. Also note, the pilot refused a De-Ice by the FBO.

 

[Canucit]

I know a freight dog that was in icing conditions in a 210 and was picking up ice and had no boots or prop deice and asked to decend and when he hit mea and was still picking up ice he-cancelled and decended till he broke out at 800 agl

I think he got the message

definately read all these posts and think twice before going into something that you can or cannot get out of

 

[FN FAL]

I know a freight dog that was in icing conditions in a 210 and was picking up ice and had no boots or prop deice and asked to decend and when he hit mea and was still picking up ice he-cancelled and decended till he broke out at 800 agl

I think he got the message

definately read all these posts and think twice before going into something that you can or cannot get out of

Breaking out at 800 AGL could be a god send, what about those days or nights when you are traveling over airports reporting 100 and 1/2 or less?

 

[Canucit]

pam or any non stick spray .... I think central air pilots used to spray their aero commanders wings with pam untill they got certified for boots

 

[FN FAL]

pam or any non stick spray .... I think central air pilots used to spray their aero commanders wings with pam untill they got certified for boots

Heck, even with boots I still see a lot of acretion remain on the leading edges of the caravan...I'd settle for a telescoping ice scraper that could I reach out the storm window and reach most of the wing.

 

[Singlecoil]

I've posted this one elsewhere, but thought it would fit the thread...

A flight on the rocks? February 6, 1995

The native girl cautiously creeps toward the barstool. A bush pilot is draining a cold one after earning his daily pay. “Excuse me, were you my pilot today?”
“Oh, that was you from Brevig Mission?”
“That was such a scary flight!”
“Oh, well, umm, I’m sorry about that, I didn’t think the weather was going to be that bad or I wouldn’t have taken any passengers.”
“It was so white and there was all that ice on the airplane!”
“Well, I didn’t get any ice on the way up, and it was kind of unexpected. By the time we were icing up, there was little to do but get to Nome as soon as possible, and then we taxied into the snow drift, it was too dark to see.”
“I was so scared, I was wishing I stayed home, but I’m glad I got here safe, and I’m glad you were flying, and…will you dance with me?” Like I’m going to turn that down.
The weather was not forecast to get below 3000 feet with ten miles of visibility. Now I know why they call them “weather guessers.” My gut was telling me that something was rolling in, but we had lots of mail and our other plane was broken, so I kind of had to take a look. I think I’ll listen to my gut a little more the next time.
The first twenty miles north were a pretty solid white-out, but the weather improved from there and my first two stops were uneventful. In Wales I had to wait 30 minutes in an 80 below wind chill for our agent to show up, making the flight late. Wales had warmed up from a 101 below wind chill earlier in the week. I took off and called Nome to extend my flight plan. They answered by telling me Nome had gone down to a 600 foot ceiling with a half a mile visibility, essentially closing the airport. I headed to Teller to wait out the storm at our agent’s house. I was there for 90 minutes with another pilot, admiring the agent’s collection of gold nuggets from his 15 claims.
Nome came back up to three miles so I went to Brevig Mission, only 8 miles from Teller, to load up passengers and head for Nome as darkness approached. We were following the coast only about 30 miles from Nome when it started—freezing rain. The worst kind of icing with the fastest accumulation rate, and of course, a 207 has no de-icing equipment. In 15 minutes, the wings, tail, and prop were covered, forcing me to use full power to keep from descending. My defroster was working well so I had a little hole in the windshield I could see out of. The clouds were low and full of more ice so I couldn’t climb to find warmer temperatures. The passengers kept looking at the wings, then at me, then at the ground, then at me, etc. I naturally ignored them and acted as if this always happened. The wind had increased to a thirty-five knot headwind, slowing my progress and lengthening my time in the icy rain. Nome weather had come back down to a little over a mile, forcing me to get a clearance to approach the airport. Usually this means a ten to thirty minute delay, far too long in these conditions; the airplane wouldn’t fly that much longer if I kept putting on ice. I was thinking I would have to declare an emergency to get first in line to land when the controller told me there was no other traffic. Lucky—an emergency commands lots of unwanted attention, and even more unwelcome paperwork.
Two miles out I saw the runway and lined up. I reached for the flap handle but caught myself. Ordinarily flaps will allow the airplane to fly safer at slower speeds, but with this much ice on board, it would surely stall the tail and nose in. I touched down smoothly with no flaps and started to taxi in. In the darkness, I managed to find a snowdrift, forcing us to shutdown and deplane. I pointed in the direction of the terminal, and the two ladies on board walked off, saying nothing. I noticed the two men looking at the ice on the wings and shaking their heads. I had to inform them that the ice was unexpected and to my surprise they thanked me for the flight and helped me push the plane out of the snow. I quickly ran next door to see if I could put the plane in a hangar before the FAA saw it. I chipped a piece off the tail and one off the wing; perfectly clear, thick ice. I closed out my paperwork and headed for town. What does a pilot do with thick chunks of ice from his wings? He puts them in a glass and pours scotch over them; after all I had the next two days off.

 

[rumpletumbler]

I'm not throwing stones and I'm sure this guy knew a lot more about weather than I do but this is just stupid.

Employees of a fixed base operator (FBO) located at MSP reported N228PA arrived at the FBO between 0000 and 0030. One FBO employee reported there was about 1/4 inch strip of ice on the leading edges of the wings and horizontal stabilizer. The employee stated a "clear coat" of ice covered the propeller and that 3/4 inch of mixed ice covered the area aft of the leading edge de-ice boots on both wings. The employee asked the pilot how the weather was coming into MSP and the pilot replied that it was "pretty bad up there." Another employee reported the airplane had ice on both wings, both wing struts, and the fuselage. The employee estimated the thickness of the ice accumulation to be 1/8 to 1/2 inch. Several FBO employees stated they asked the pilot if he needed the airplane deiced prior to his next departure and that the pilot stated to multiple FBO employees that he did not need any deice service. Several FBO employees said they noticed the pilot chipping-off ice from the airplane prior to his departure. The airplane was fueled with 180 gallons of Jet-A fuel prior to its departure and was loaded with four boxes that had a reported combined weight of 100 lbs. No additional services were provided. The airplane departed the FBO ramp about 0100.

 

[mar]

N228PA was a Caravan.

Bummer.

http://aviation-safety.net/database/2002/020315-0.htm