Beware the 'Pilot's Halo'

Beware the ‘Pilot’s Halo’

Stephen Pope

Thursday, January 03, 2013 at 10:17 PM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

A "pilot's halo" (a rainbow around your airplane's shadow on clouds) indicates the cloud holds liquid moisture, signaling a high risk of icing if temperatures are in the freezing range.
Pilots should exercise caution or avoid descending into cloud layers where a pilot's halo is visible and temperatures are conducive to icing, especially if their aircraft is not approved for flight into known icing.
Even with checks, icing can occur; it's best to delay descent through suspected icing conditions until reaching VFR or safer temperatures.
If icing is encountered, exit conditions immediately by climbing, descending below the freezing level/cloud layer, or diverting, while maintaining speed and potentially keeping flaps up to avoid a tail stall.

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Have you ever been flying over a cloud deck and noticed a rainbow halo around the shadow of your airplane? Besides being pretty to look at, this ring-shaped rainbow – called a “pilot’s halo” or “glory of the pilot” because we’re usually the only ones who get to see it – should be a clue to you that the cloud holds liquid moisture.

So what, you ask? If the temperature is in the freezing range and you descend into that cloud, you can expect icing.