Environmental Factors: Icing in Aviation
Environmental Factors: Icing in Aviation
Although there are various environmental factors that have an affect in aircraft’s performance, Icing conditions are perhaps one of the most feared by any Pilot. As most pilots flying in the state of Florida, Icing is something that we study but for the most part never get to experience in real life until we either advance in our careers flying Jets or get to fly up north where Icing conditions are a every day thing that pilots need to plan for in order to conduct their flights safely.
when thinking about Icing and how it affects an aircraft's performance, we have to first understand that not all airplanes are certified to fly into known icing conditions, this of course limits the operation to flying in fair weather where icing conditions will not become a hazard to the operation.
Icing build up on surfaces of an airplane results in performance issues, examples of this would be the weight increase due to ice adhering to the skin of the aircraft, and also the change in the airfoil shape due to the ice build up which also will generate a decrease in aerodynamic performance due to the roughness of the ice, affecting the generation of lift the airfoil was design for.
Icing also affects movement of parts, blocks intakes and vital sensors such as static ports and Pitot tubes that are indispensable to the accurate reading of flight instruments such as airspeed indicator and altimeter.
Luckily the Aviation Weather Center/NOAA National Weather center provides weather advisory tools available to general aviation pilots and gives us vital information to plan our flights such as freezing level charts, current icing Sigmets, reported Aircraft Icing, among others.
When flights are to be conducted in known Icing conditions, certified aircraft are equipped with anti ice and deicing equipment, such as heated elements, inflatable deicing boots, Pitot tube heating, etc. Used accordingly these devices will help mitigate or prevent the effects of icing and provide the measures to fly safely in icing conditions.
If you want to learn more about icing and how it affects aviation, here's some resources that I think will be interesting.
https://www.aviationweather.gov/icing
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