Some subjects in aviation are covered during flight training in an academic sense, but their practical application presents challenges. For example, most of what I was taught about SIDs and STARs involved writing, “No SID/STAR” in the flight plan form’s remarks section. In a similar vein, most of what I learned about in-flight icing while bombing around in a Skyhawk was avoidance: Recognize the symptoms and find the fastest way out.
Once I transitioned to aircraft approved for flight-in-known-icing (FIKI), the opportunities increased as much as the flight planning. Additional systems needed to be checked and when I’m in the thick of it, the amount of monitoring substantially increases. In other words, there’s no free lunch.
