Aircraft Icing

Icy flight conditions

    Not all weather makes for ideal flying conditions especially icy flying conditions. Planes are critically balanced, and are designed and built to cut through the air like hot butter to a knife. One of the most troublesome environmental factors to flight is icy atmospheric conditions and ice accumulation on an aircraft. 

    The specific shape of the airfoil is designed to create a lower pressure area above the wing and a higher pressure area below the wing to generate lift. When ice accumulates on the airfoil, it creates a disruption in the flow of air and makes the plane both harder to control for the pilots and more unstable in the air. When pilots encounter accumulation of ice it is typical to increase airspeed and an increased angle of attack for compensation of drag and to maintain altitude. This additionally causes problems because it allows for ice to accumulate the underside of airfoils and the fuselage of the plane. Once ice accumulates on every frontal face of the plane, especially on smaller aircraft it can make continued flight nearly impossible, the worst of these contitons can cause stalls and inevitiably loss of aircraft and life.

    Because ice is such a cause for concern in the safety of flight, there is a Code of Federal regulations on operating in icing conditions, Airworthiness Directive for icing flight conditions, and the release of multiple Advisory Circulars to provide guidance on flying in icy flight conditions. In addition to this, the mitigation startigies that are used against icing conditons are the use of bleed air from the engines, de-icing boots in the wings of planes, heated pitot tubes and anti-icing mixtures sprayed on aircraft prior too and post flight.

References

FAA. (2009, December 4). CFR Title 14, Chapter I, Subchapter F, Part 91, Subpart F, § 91.527 . Federal Register. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-14/chapter-I/subchapter-F/part-91/subpart-F/section-91.527

FAA. (2015, October 8). AC 91-74B - pilot guide: Flight in icing conditions. AC 91-74B. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-74B.pdf

FAA. (2021, August 26). Notice U.S. Department of Transportation - Federal Aviation Administration Revised FAA-Approved Deicing Program Updates, Winter 2021–2022. N 8900.594. Retrieved 2022, from https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Notice/N_8900.594_FAA.pdf

Landsberg, B. (2008, April). Safety advisors - your freedom to fly - aopa. Retrieved July 17, 2022, from https://www.aopa.org/-/media/Files/AOPA/Home/Pilot-Resources/ASI/Safety-Advisors/sa11.pdf

Shaw, R. J. (2021, May 13). Dynamics of flight. NASA. Retrieved from https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/UEET/StudentSite/dynamicsofflight.html#:~:text=Airplane%20wings%20are%20shaped%20to,wing%20up%20into%20the%20air.