While we’re discussing the various precision approach scenarios, let’s think about what’s going to happen once we’ve acquired some airframe ice. The POH probably makes it clear flaps are a big no-no when landing with ice on the airframe. We’ve seen the NASA videos on tailplane stalls, so we know, intellectually, that adding any flap deflection at all, or slowing down, could very well jam us into the planet. We fly the ILS flaps-up, at the power setting that nailed the glideslope, until we roll the wheels on the runway.
That’s the way we should practice, too. Instead, we trained break out of the clouds, spy the runway and “bam.” Patterns from hours and hours of practice approaches lead us to make an immediate power reduction, extend gear and flaps, and dive for runway. The last sight we have, as the tail stalls and the airplane pitches down, is a windshield full of snowy ground.
