Ice

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Steven8385

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Steven8385
Had my first experience with Ice. No pirep or even airmets out, tried to climb through the stratus layer got to 7 started to pickup ice kept climbing 7500 was just at the top but had no more climb left in her. Before I climbed atc cleared me back down just in case, so I had my out by the time I got back to 4 all the ice was gone off the windscreen. But I think I had quite a load on, not a good feeling.
 
Why did you keep climbing once you started picking up ice? Not sure what you fly but in a baby 172 I get into ice... I request a descent.
 
Ice is not nice.

Visible moisture (i.e. a cloud) at or below freezing puts you at risk. Always have a solid out in place before flying in conditions conducive to icing. Understand that some OAT gauge probes are located where some of the heat from the motor will cause them to read slightly higher than true OAT which results in ice formation even when your OAT gauge reads positive 1-3 degrees C.
 
Ice is not a death sentence. Knowing what to do when encountering unforecasted ice may be a life saver.
 
OkieAviator said:
Why did you keep climbing once you started picking up ice? Not sure what you fly but in a baby 172 I get into ice... I request a descent.
Click to expand...

I believe most pilot weather courses/books/etc generally say you can climb above it or get below it. Just the physics of ice formation, i.e. gets too cold and it doesn't form or sublimates (as you are probably well aware). What most of those resources don't really mention is that climbing through accumulating ice is a tough thing to do in something like a 172……it is a viable option in something with a much higher T/W ratio that can punch through the icing pretty quickly based on climb rate, particularly in something that has anti-ice gear, but I agree, if I had the option to drop back down below it (based on terrain or lack thereof), that would be my choice in most cases, regardless of aircraft.
 
Also not sure what you were flying. Assuming you are normally able to maintain 500 fpm, it sounds like you accumulated enough ice in one minute to arrest your climb ability. Is this correct?
 
Just turn the boots on ;)
 
I was flying an pa28 181. To be more descript temp was around 42 at 4000 and solid IMC controller said there was a layer at 5500 and asked if we wanted to climb, climbed to 6 and nothing. So I asked for 8 to get on top, we were cleared to 8 before we started to climb I asked if we could get back down to 4 right away if we couldn't get on top. So away we climbed we got to 7 and the ice came in seconds by the time we had got to 75 lost my climb ability so back down to 4 right away.
 
It was central New York over the weekend. I wish that foreflight could integrate the ruc soundings report from noaa into one of there map overlays to gain some knowledge on where the cloud tops are and where layers maybe. This would probably be a great feature, since they can change fast.
 
The one place I can think of where you can sort of safely get ice, is if you have two conditions:
1. VFR conditions below you with the bottom of the clouds above the MVA and:
2. The air somewhere down there below you is above 40 degrees. Then if you get ice, you can descend and the ice will come off usually with no real problems.

But if you get ice and cant hold altitude and have no escape route, you are "boxed in" and things can go bad in a hurry. What happens is you just keep slowing down trying to maintain altitude until you reach stall speed.
 
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The other thing people should know is about this "supercooled droplets of water". What happens is the air is ABOVE freezing, say 35F. However there is water in that air that is BELOW freezing, say 20F. This is possible. Water does NOT HAVE to freeze if it is below 32F. It is possible that it can stay liquid. When this happens and an airplane flys through this water, the disturbance of the water caused by the plane causes the water to instantly become ice, some of it clinging to the airplane.

People ask, where did this water that is below freezing come from. The answer is, it came from somewhere where it is colder, most likely above. Air above is usually colder.

Remember,
1. Water that is below freezing does not have to become ice.
2. Water that is ABOVE freezing, does have to become liquid.
 
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I got an email regarding a Jepp webinar on icing this Thurs Nov. 12. No clue if hey are any good or not, might have to take a look-see.
 
Another item. When you get ice, you are supposed to report it to ATC. This isn't because ATC can come up and scrape it off your plane :) It's because they want the info for their weather forecasts and airmets. They will ask you "what kind of ice is it?". There are two kinds, clear and rime. Well there are different KINDS of clear. There is smooth clear ice and jagged clear ice. There is clear, clear ice and there is WHITE clear ice. If it's NOT rime, it's clear. Rime is white and is more like frost that accumulates. If its hard and thick, even if its white, that is clear ice. ATC will also want to know the temperature.
 
That's all well and good but all I wanted was some ice for my drink...
 
I appreciate the clarification. I'm really not an expert. I have seen clear out there on the leading edge of my wing and it appeared white. Not sure why. Its not the color that makes it clear, though. Its its density how it was formed. Like I said, I'm no expert but I have had ice on my airplane and it was white, but it was from those supercooled droplets of water. It was also jagged, not smooth and looked white looking at it through the front window. About 3/8" thick and covered all the leading edges of the airplane including the window. I was able to descend and it melted and all slid off at once.

Upon reading the AIM above. I think it was rime, or mixed. I thought rime was accumulated frost. Are there different kinds of rime. It appeared white through the windshield.

One thing is, I was pretty busy flying the airplane. I didnt really know what it was at the time. I actually told him I didnt know. I guess I still dont for sure.
 
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What is a typical temperature spread for Supercooled Droplets of Water in a cumulus cloud in the summer in the upper midwest?
 
When they ask what kind of Ice they're referring to trace, light, moderate, heavy... Not clear, rime, mixed, ect....
 
Type of ice. Rime, clear, mixed etc
Severity of ice. Light, moderate, heavy, severe

"what kind" is "what type" in the english language I learned.
 
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