It seems as though our most vivid memories come from some of our worst experiences in life. While many pilots don’t remember their first exposure to structural icing, they probably will never forget their worst. For many, it remains etched in their brain forever. But, we can avoid making painful lasting memories if we do some careful preflight planning and use some street smarts to negotiate the system to our advantage during this icing season.
The icing environment in and around the Great Lakes region is not a place where you want to cut your teeth with respect to icing. Any instrument pilot that has experience flying in this region during the early winter is probably nodding his or her head right about now. Three years ago I helped one of my former instrument students avoid making any bad memories for a cross-country flight from Springfield, Illinois (KSPI) to Williamsport, Pennsylvania (KIPT).
