Icing Attack!

[GeorgePerry]

Took an early am flight to KVVS the other day.  The destination weather wasn't bad - 1200 overcast 5 miles vis.  Since I knew I'd have to fly through some clouds in the decent I checked icing forecast and pireps for icing. Everything looked good with no red flags.  Flight over was uneventful as I was cruising a few thousand feet above an overcast. Temp at 7000 was right at +2 deg C leading me to believe it should warm in the decent. I say all this because I was wrong and the weather forecast was too.  

As ATC descended me for the approach, passing 6000 I started picking up some very light rime. No big deal I thought - I'll be lower/warmer in no time.  However, As I scanned the outside air temp I noticed the temp had actually gone down in the decent (temp inversion) and was now -3 deg.   Descending through 5000 ft, the rate of icing accumulation quickly changed for the worse.  The rate of accumulation was alarming!  I asked ATC for an immediate decent but the MVA in the area I was flying was 4000 which wasn't going to be low enough to either get out of the clouds or warm the airframe. Quickly realizing lower wasn't an option and I knew for sure I couldn't stay where I was, I asked for an immediate climb. The climb back up to VMC seemed to take forever.  Got on top - Turned around and flew home. 

The entire icing encounter lasted no more than 3-4 min from start to finish. The picture shows what the airframe looked like. It was a healthy reminder of how quick ice can accumulate and that  assumptions (like which way the temperature will move in a decent) can be wrong. 

After getting leveled off I gave ATC a pirep hoping to help anyone else thinking about flying in the area to avoid the same fate.

Wanted to share. Fly safe! 

[FlyDave]

Wow George! That's a lot more ice than I've ever seen. And the run back looks a bit hairy.

With that much ice did you notice any difference in the handling or airspeed? There's another current thread about Icing and I think a discussion of your experience could add to that discussion:

 

 

 

[GeorgePerry]

There was some noticeable reduction in climb performance, but the airplane flew ok. Normally I'd see 1000+ FPM but with the ice the best I could get was about 4-500 FPM.  Flight back home was uneventful, I had plenty of gas and the WX was VMC. Descending through 7000 feet back at my home airport the temp was high enough for the ice to shed so landing was normal. 

That's the most icing I've ever had on a light GA aircraft...And I'm not to proud to say that the incident has really made me rethink my go/no go criteria with winter weather.  

[M20F]

12 minutes ago, GeorgePerry said:

And I'm not to proud to say that the incident has really made me rethink my go/no go criteria with winter weather.  

Curious why not?

[Guitarmaster]

Freezing rain at its best.. Or worst. .

Good job on not pushing it!

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[M20S Driver]

1 hour ago, GeorgePerry said:

There was some noticeable reduction in climb performance, but the airplane flew ok. Normally I'd see 1000+ FPM but with the ice the best I could get was about 4-500 FPM.  Flight back home was uneventful, I had plenty of gas and the WX was VMC. Descending through 7000 feet back at my home airport the temp was high enough for the ice to shed so landing was normal. 

That's the most icing I've ever had on a light GA aircraft...And I'm not to proud to say that the incident has really made me rethink my go/no go criteria with winter weather.  

Did you look at the tail to see how it looked?  You can see a small portion of it from the pilot seat.

[carusoam]

Looks like some pretty large individual drops stuck on the top surface.  That can add up pretty quickly.

Thanks for sharing the details and photo, George.

Best regards,

-a-

[jetdriven]

Thats definately SLD runback.  Glad you made it out, many times it quickly exceeds the climb rate of GA airplanes and if its freezing all the way to the surface you can draw your own conclusions as to how it turns out.

One night, in the Beech 1900, I flew into icing so severe it overwhelmed the capability of that airplane, and it is known as a great airplane in ice.. There is an auto mode which activates the inboard and outboard wings, and the tail in a 90 second timespan.  The props are hot too. We were flying along at 4000' getting vectored for the ILS at Kingman, AZ in IMC.  I noticed the aiplane had lost 20 knots of airspeed, and checking the wing there was 2" of ice on it. The boots shed it, but the 90 second interval was too long, it was building.  The "manual mode" of 30 seconds, inflating everything was just barely keeping up but every cycle had more residual ice.  The airplane started vibrating because the props couldnt shed the ice fast enough.  I knew clear air was 4000' above and I almost pulled the plug and ran for it. Looking back, I probably should. 

Anyways, rant over, but the point I'm trying to make is, there was no icing forecast that night and had I not been flying a turbine-powered airliner with 1300 HP per side, I may very well have wound up in the dirt then.

In the Mooney, its simple, I dont fly in visible moisture in temperatures below 32F.

Edited January 5, 2016 by jetdriven

[GeorgePerry]

8 hours ago, M20F said:

Curious why not?

typo---I am proud to say it HAS made me rethink.

[N201MKTurbo]

You did the right thing. My experience is that you don't take a serious performance hit until the stall strips disappear. yours are still visible.

Did the ice sublimate? Did it melt and blow off? Did you land with the ice still on?

If you are going to use your Mooney as a serious transportation machine, then you are going to fly IFR in the winter. If you do that you are going to get ice no matter what the forecasts say. That's just part of flying. Ice can be dealt with, just like what George did. Winter doesn't mean that you have to park your plane, you just have to accept that sometimes you are not going to get where you are going.

Edited January 5, 2016 by N201MKTurbo

[Piloto]

A good wax job on the leading edge helps on reducing ice formation. I found that Mooneys are pretty good in icing conditions. You may loose 10kts due to drag but the wings will still provide good lift. Do not deploy the speed brakes in icing conditions, they are prone to ice up and not retract all the way down. Most annoying is the windshield icing that can impair landing visibility. Make sure that the windshield heating hoses are firmly attached. The heat can clear a small area enough for landing visibility. At night check the wings and windshield for icing with a flashlight.

José

[MyNameIsNobody]

Glad you made it "out" safe George.  Points to ponder, for sure.

[Seth]

Thanks for the info George.  Around the mid-atlantic, as you know from first hand experience, temp inversions are common in the winter flying months.  The tops of the clouds tend to have the most ice, but that was your out.  Remind me, does your Eagle have the 310 HP STC or is it the 244 HP stock configuration?  In ice while climbing, the extra HP means a lot (same reason the turbo guys like to climb in ice - they have the power and hopefully get out of it prior to increase drag and weight, and reduction in lift catching up).  The NA guys like us lose power as the climb continues, adding weight and drag, while decreasing lift - not a good recipe.  

Ice is just not a good recipe at all.

 

-Seth

 

 

[GeorgePerry]

2 hours ago, Seth said:

Thanks for the info George.  Around the mid-atlantic, as you know from first hand experience, temp inversions are common in the winter flying months.  The tops of the clouds tend to have the most ice, but that was your out.  Remind me, does your Eagle have the 310 HP STC or is it the 244 HP stock configuration?  In ice while climbing, the extra HP means a lot (same reason the turbo guys like to climb in ice - they have the power and hopefully get out of it prior to increase drag and weight, and reduction in lift catching up).  The NA guys like us lose power as the climb continues, adding weight and drag, while decreasing lift - not a good recipe.  

Ice is just not a good recipe at all.

 

-Seth

 

 

Stock Eagle w/ 244 HP.  

[bradp]

George curious as to whether the skew-t charts reflected the temperature inversion you encountered?  

Brad 

[piperpainter]

Now that's some ice!

[GaryP1007]

Ice scares the ***** out of me.  Just reading this is tossing my stomach.  We can all learn from it.  Thanks George.

[Joe Zuffoletto]

George, thanks for sharing. I think you handled the situation perfectly. That is some serious SLD runback that would have given my TKS a run for its money.

[Oscar Avalle]

Thanks for your story. Sunday 3, I flew from KGAI to Albany to drop off my son at school. KGAI was VFR and Albany was forecasted VFR with ceilings around 3000 and good visibility. I had filed for 7000 and flew most of the route at that altitude temperature was around 1 C. However, Once we got close to Allentown things changed. A solid overcast with tops around 7,000 started to move in. I flew into the clouds and indeed ice formed up immediately. I asked higher went up to 8,000 and everything looked ok. Albany took me down through the clouds, temperatures went down too (temperature inversion!) and I leveled off at 3,000 with a nice load of clear ice... I was able to land without any problems and flew back under the overcast while being bounced around by turbulence.

Lessons learned: be careful with go and no go decisions. Things may not evolve as expected and always keep an out... In my case it would have been a 180 and back to Lancaster.

[Marauder]

Thanks for your story. Sunday 3, I flew from KGAI to Albany to drop off my son at school. KGAI was VFR and Albany was forecasted VFR with ceilings around 3000 and good visibility. I had filed for 7000 and flew most of the route at that altitude temperature was around 1 C. However, Once we got close to Allentown things changed. A solid overcast with tops around 7,000 started to move in. I flew into the clouds and indeed ice formed up immediately. I asked higher went up to 8,000 and everything looked ok. Albany took me down through the clouds, temperatures went down too (temperature inversion!) and I leveled off at 3,000 with a nice load of clear ice... I was able to land without any problems and flew back under the overcast while being bounced around by turbulence.

Lessons learned: be careful with go and no go decisions. Things may not evolve as expected and always keep an out... In my case it would have been a 180 and back to Lancaster.

The neck of woods you were flying in Oscar are ice makers. We had a warm winter so far which lends itself to more moisture being tossed upwards. Lake Ontario being a deep lake (never freezes over), also makes it a moisture generator all winter long.

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[Oscar Avalle]

What a Change! I was used to volcanos and wind...sometimes an earthquake...but now back to ice.

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[anthonydesmet]

Thanks George!  Definitely not like when were back in Tomcats is it...plenty of power, options.....flying around the boat in the Adriatic, ice, snow, night, trying to get marshall to keep us out of the ice....oh wait....that scared the sh*t out of me too......

[Marauder]

Thanks George!  Definitely not like when were back in Tomcats is it...plenty of power, options.....flying around the boat in the Adriatic, ice, snow, night, trying to get marshall to keep us out of the ice....oh wait....that scared the sh*t out of me too......

Same stuff, just at a different Mach number

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[M016576]

 

Thanks George!  Definitely not like when were back in Tomcats is it...plenty of power, options.....flying around the boat in the Adriatic, ice, snow, night, trying to get marshall to keep us out of the ice....oh wait....that scared the sh*t out of me too......

Ahhhh... The good old days....

[aviatoreb]

After burners, Mach 2, and the ice melts off right?  Where's the problem?