[mikecweb]

I fly the caravan and have had some pretty good ice experience this season. One thing you will constantly hear with icing is the phrase "always have an out". Whether its an easy decision like descend 2,000ft to get to above freezing or climbing to get between layers. Tougher outs are having a place to divert to incase you have an deice equipment failure or a change of direction to get out of severe icing. The van collects ice as everyone knows. You just gotta be smart. You can sit in ice and pop the boots for hours on end. But you'll notice after awhile your airspeed never gets back to normal because there are places where the ice and weight just accumulate.
One thing that I learned which wasn't mentioned in any training I received: Yes you'll lose airspeed and we have minimum speeds in icing, but have you ever thought about fuel? Say you planned a 2:30 hour flight in night/IFR conditions. So you put on the minimum fuel you need plus your personal reserve. So you have 3:15-3:30 hours of fuel on board. Well you planned to fly at 170 not 120 your minimum icing speed. This is something I never even considered until I had to go into my reserve fuel just to make it to my destination one night because of reduced airspeed from ice. Not a fun night when the weather is close to minimums.

Edit: And dispatch has cancelled me because of freezing rain before I even looked into a go/no decision.