Fun with Icing

BobDDuck · February 27th, 2005, 02:00

One of my students and I went on a long cross country today from Phoenix to Long Beach, CA. The weather was looking pretty good the whole way and was supposed to stay good for the evening as we would be coming back after dark. So we get about as far as Buckeye and hear a pilot talking to ABQ Center out west of Blythe. He is in heavy IMC and is picking up ice and can't maintain altitude. He finally breaks out and lands at Blythe. Anyhow, playing the role of good instructor and tell my student to use other A/C's radio calls to enhance SA.

To make the point I quary ATC as to where this guy was and I get something like, "directly on your route of flight, just east of SHADI." Hmmm... well that's no good. So I move on to the next lesson. Work with ATC for a good routing. I ask for a more northerly route and get direct Palm Springs (we were going to Thermal). Sounds good. The heading looks like it will keep us out of the huge cloud that is in front of use.

So away we go at 12000. The cloud deck was slightly below us but it started to come upwards. I was debating to request a climb to 13000 for a few minutes to get clear but by the time I could get in on the radio we had already entered the layer. It seemed pretty smooth and we weren't picking up anything so I didn't make the call. Mistake number 1.

All of the sudden (doesn't it always happen that way) we went through a cloud that was darked then the others. I looked at the OAT pipe (it sticks up through the windshield on the Seminole) and noticed little bits of ice on it. Not so good news but nothing major.

Right after that, just about everything went wrong. It started raining. At least it sounded like rain but the whole windshield glazed over and when I looked out on the wing the leading edge was covered in about a quarter of an inch of ice. Just like that. 5 or 6 seconds.

I asked for a climb as I figured that maybe we could get above it or have the temp drop so ice wouldn't form. That didn't work out so well. We only climbed about 500 feet and that was all we could do. I also had my student turn right about 60 degrees as we had been on the right side of the clouds and I thought maybe we could break out that way. Approach also offered us 10000 to try to get warmed air. We took that option but luckly for us at 12000 we broke back out between layers. It was clear for the forseable future so I took some time and evaluated the situation.

We now had about 1/2 inch of ice on our wings. For those of you who have flown that route before, you know about Banning (sp?) pass that leads from Palm Springs in to the LA valley. Not a place to be if you have problems. A valley between two 11000+ mountains. Palm Springs Airport was 5 miles away but we could get through the pass which from our current position looked clear and then get down to warmer air when the MEAs dropped in the valley.

I went with the second option. A good choice? I don't know. If the clouds had closed in while going through the pass and we already had a large amount of ice on the wings we might have had trouble, even if we turned around for Palm Springs.

In the end it worked out ok. I learned from it. My student learned from it and we made it to LGB safely. We took a southern routing on the way back, all the way down to SAN and then east to Yuma. Until I get a plane with boots I am liking those 5000 MEAs.

Stay safe out there. Even though it is not really "winter" on the ground (at least for a New England Boy) it sure as heck is up there.

BTW: The pictures are from about 15 minutes later when I thought about getting my camera out. It was bit worse then that.

secretapproach · February 27th, 2005, 10:15

I'm glad everything turned out well. I'm starting my instrument rating so this is good stuff to read.

bike21 · February 27th, 2005, 10:34

[ QUOTE ]

All of the sudden (doesn't it always happen that way) we went through a cloud that was darked then the others. I looked at the OAT pipe (it sticks up through the windshield on the Seminole) and noticed little bits of ice on it. Not so good news but nothing major.

[/ QUOTE ]

mistake #2 - at the VERY first sign (small surfaces collect ice first) make a call and get out of there!

Great job staying alive and getting a quick heading and altitude change! Was the cloud cumuluform (sp?) I know sometimes ice can get quite bad at the tops of cumulus type clouds.

Again, good job staying alive and making it out.

flyover · February 27th, 2005, 12:59

[ QUOTE ]
Until I get a plane with boots I am liking those 5000 MEAs.

[/ QUOTE ]

Great post. Just remember the limitations of boots. You still need to be able to get out of the ice in a timely manner. What you really want is a plane with hot leading edges.

February 27th, 2005, 02:00	#1
BobDDuck Old Skool Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Left Seat Posts: 5,521	Fun with Icing One of my students and I went on a long cross country today from Phoenix to Long Beach, CA. The weather was looking pretty good the whole way and was supposed to stay good for the evening as we would be coming back after dark. So we get about as far as Buckeye and hear a pilot talking to ABQ Center out west of Blythe. He is in heavy IMC and is picking up ice and can't maintain altitude. He finally breaks out and lands at Blythe. Anyhow, playing the role of good instructor and tell my student to use other A/C's radio calls to enhance SA. To make the point I quary ATC as to where this guy was and I get something like, "directly on your route of flight, just east of SHADI." Hmmm... well that's no good. So I move on to the next lesson. Work with ATC for a good routing. I ask for a more northerly route and get direct Palm Springs (we were going to Thermal). Sounds good. The heading looks like it will keep us out of the huge cloud that is in front of use. So away we go at 12000. The cloud deck was slightly below us but it started to come upwards. I was debating to request a climb to 13000 for a few minutes to get clear but by the time I could get in on the radio we had already entered the layer. It seemed pretty smooth and we weren't picking up anything so I didn't make the call. Mistake number 1. All of the sudden (doesn't it always happen that way) we went through a cloud that was darked then the others. I looked at the OAT pipe (it sticks up through the windshield on the Seminole) and noticed little bits of ice on it. Not so good news but nothing major. Right after that, just about everything went wrong. It started raining. At least it sounded like rain but the whole windshield glazed over and when I looked out on the wing the leading edge was covered in about a quarter of an inch of ice. Just like that. 5 or 6 seconds. I asked for a climb as I figured that maybe we could get above it or have the temp drop so ice wouldn't form. That didn't work out so well. We only climbed about 500 feet and that was all we could do. I also had my student turn right about 60 degrees as we had been on the right side of the clouds and I thought maybe we could break out that way. Approach also offered us 10000 to try to get warmed air. We took that option but luckly for us at 12000 we broke back out between layers. It was clear for the forseable future so I took some time and evaluated the situation. We now had about 1/2 inch of ice on our wings. For those of you who have flown that route before, you know about Banning (sp?) pass that leads from Palm Springs in to the LA valley. Not a place to be if you have problems. A valley between two 11000+ mountains. Palm Springs Airport was 5 miles away but we could get through the pass which from our current position looked clear and then get down to warmer air when the MEAs dropped in the valley. I went with the second option. A good choice? I don't know. If the clouds had closed in while going through the pass and we already had a large amount of ice on the wings we might have had trouble, even if we turned around for Palm Springs. In the end it worked out ok. I learned from it. My student learned from it and we made it to LGB safely. We took a southern routing on the way back, all the way down to SAN and then east to Yuma. Until I get a plane with boots I am liking those 5000 MEAs. Stay safe out there. Even though it is not really "winter" on the ground (at least for a New England Boy) it sure as heck is up there. BTW: The pictures are from about 15 minutes later when I thought about getting my camera out. It was bit worse then that.

February 27th, 2005, 10:34	#3
bike21 Old Skool Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: People's Republic of Boulder Posts: 2,233	Re: Fun with Icing [ QUOTE ] All of the sudden (doesn't it always happen that way) we went through a cloud that was darked then the others. I looked at the OAT pipe (it sticks up through the windshield on the Seminole) and noticed little bits of ice on it. Not so good news but nothing major. [/ QUOTE ] mistake #2 - at the VERY first sign (small surfaces collect ice first) make a call and get out of there! Great job staying alive and getting a quick heading and altitude change! Was the cloud cumuluform (sp?) I know sometimes ice can get quite bad at the tops of cumulus type clouds. Again, good job staying alive and making it out.

February 27th, 2005, 12:59	#4
flyover Old Skool Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Georgia Posts: 3,389	Re: Fun with Icing [ QUOTE ] Until I get a plane with boots I am liking those 5000 MEAs. [/ QUOTE ] Great post. Just remember the limitations of boots. You still need to be able to get out of the ice in a timely manner. What you really want is a plane with hot leading edges.

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February 27th, 2005, 10:15	#2
secretapproach Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Hollywood, FL Posts: 278	Re: Fun with Icing I'm glad everything turned out well. I'm starting my instrument rating so this is good stuff to read.