There’s Never a Good Time to Freeze Up When Flying

Dealing with unexpected icing conditions requires quick action.

Bill Little

Wednesday, June 25, 2025 at 08:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

Key Takeaways:

The pilot embarked on a ski trip with an inoperative pitot heat, which he rationalized away, only to encounter unexpected severe icing and deteriorating weather on the return flight.
During the flight, the aircraft experienced significant icing, leading to an airspeed indicator failure and heavy vibrations, prompting the pilot to declare "a problem" to ATC.
The pilot calmly communicated with air traffic control, requested specific vectors and a radar approach, and landed safely, later realizing the true severity of the icing after learning another de-icing-equipped aircraft also diverted due to the same conditions.

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A guy I had flown on enough trips to turn him into a pretty good copilot called early one week in January to see if I could get a plane for the weekend.

I was flying out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport (KCLT) at the time. He wanted to bring a friend and pick up another friend at Dulles International Airport (KIAD), then we’d head to Somerset, Pennsylvania, to go skiing in the mountains beginning Friday night if we could get away in time.