Icing Weather Basics

Next to poor visibility and low ceilings, ice is one of winters most common weather hazards. A recent study of icing accidents showed that 71 percent of the pilots were instrument rated, averaged 2000 hours, and over half of the flights received a proper icing forecast. This strongly suggests that ice is not well understood or is ignored.

Tim Vasquez

Friday, November 14, 2014 at 12:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Icing is a prevalent and often misunderstood winter weather hazard, even for instrument-rated pilots, highlighting the critical need for a deeper understanding of its meteorological aspects.
Hazardous icing primarily occurs in supercooled liquid water layers, with severity largely dictated by factors such as high liquid water content (LWC), the presence of supercooled large droplets (SLDs), and temperature, which differentiate between less severe rime ice and dangerous clear ice.
Effective icing avoidance requires pilots to go beyond standard forecasts, interpreting precipitation reports, understanding advection patterns, and considering aircraft-specific susceptibilities, as icing can even occur slightly above freezing temperatures due to airfoil cooling or cold-soaked wings.

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Next to poor visibility and low ceilings, ice is one of winter’s most common weather hazards. A recent study of icing accidents showed that 71 percent of the pilots were instrument rated, averaged 2000 hours, and over half of the flights received a proper icing forecast. This strongly suggests that ice is not well understood or is ignored.

Clearly, pilots need a review. In this article we’ll cover the topic from an aviation meteorologist’s perspective and focus only on the things you need to know. Once you understand the meteorological workings, you can couple that knowledge with your own experience and knowledge to stay safe in winter IMC conditions.