Icing avoidance
- VFR pilots should not fly in icing conditions.
- Plan any flight even remotely conducive to icing with extreme caution (TP 1102 Ex.29).
- Icing needs no cloud: freezing rain can occur well below cloud base, in good visibility.
- Avoid freezing rain whenever possible (TP 10643).
Plan around it (TC AIM AIR 2.12.3.7):
- Check along route: FAs, TAFs, METARs, SIGMETs, PIREPs.
- Study significant weather prognostic charts.
- Goal: find where icing is likely, work out a safe exit.
Inadvertent encounter (TP 1102 Ex.29):
- Note heading, turn 180 degrees back into the clear air just left.
- Follow the Aircraft Flight Manual's icing procedures.
- Get as much heat as possible to the windshield.
Know your aircraft. Certified for flight into known icing: carries either device (TP 10643):
| Device | Function |
|---|---|
| De-ice boots | Break up and remove ice already on critical surfaces |
| Heated leading-edge devices | Prevent ice forming there at all |
- Know function, capabilities, limitations before needed.
- Ground deicing fluid does not protect once airborne.
Trap: default escape is a 180 degree turn into known-clear air, not a blind climb or descent; climb is the exception, only for freezing precipitation aloft: see freezing-precipitation.
References
- TC AIM AIR 2.12.3.7
- TP 1102 Ex.29, Emergency Procedures: Icing
- TP 10643 (When in Doubt... Small and Large Aircraft)