The Madness of Icing

Richard L. Collins

Thursday, January 05, 2006 at 10:00 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

The author argues that certifying light aircraft for flight in icing conditions is misguided, as it adds significant cost and complexity without making sustained flight in ice genuinely safe, potentially fostering a false sense of security.
Regardless of certification, ice protection systems are highly valuable, but their critical role is to help pilots *escape* icing conditions, not to enable prolonged flight within them.
Icing severely degrades aircraft performance and poses a significant hazard, even for aircraft equipped with ice protection, emphasizing the necessity for pilots to avoid and promptly exit icing whenever encountered.

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I have written that it is madness to certify light airplanes for flight in icing conditions. Some have misinterpreted that to mean that I don’t think light airplanes should be equipped with ice-protection gear. Nothing could be further from the truth. I think the ice protection systems that are available today, and that are not approved for flight in icing conditions, are a great value both for the money and for the utility that they offer.

The reason that I think it is foolish to certify the systems is that certification adds to the cost and complexity without a corresponding increase in usefulness. It might also carry with it some false promise. Certification might suggest to some that the airplane is okay to fly in continuous icing conditions. No problem with flying along cracking the ice with boots or letting TKS fluid ooze out onto the surfaces. That is simply not the case.