REFLECTOR:Flying a Velocity in Icing Conditions
Chris Martin
reflector@tvbf.org
Mon, 21 Apr 2003 22:52:03 -0700
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<DIV>I had an interesting IFR flight today that I thought you all would be interested in hearing about.</DIV>
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<DIV>I needed to fly from Los Angeles to San Luis Obispo, CA and there was marginal VFR. Clouds were reported with bases at 3,500 and tops at 7,000. I asked a CFI friend to make the trip with me because I knew it would require IFR and I am not rated. To make a long story short. We did some serious cloud burrowing.</DIV>
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<DIV>The icing level was 7,000 and we were at 8,000. After about 15 minutes, as we poked in and out of the clouds, I noticed some minor build up of ice was occurring. The first sign of it showed up at the tips of the vortelons, on the sharpest edges. Within 30 minutes the rime ice was becoming 1/4 inch thick on the leading edges of the winglets. Clear ice was beginning to show just aft of the leading edge of the wing and on top of the carnard. At this point I noticed the plane was loosing 20 knts of forward speed. We penetrated a few more clouds and the buildup seemed to accelerate. The speed of the plane was now reduced by 40 knts and the engine was beginning to heat up. The cylinder head temps had risen from 370 F to 415F. This was undoubtedly due to the arm pit scoops loading up with ice. I thought it was time to call it quits and head for a lower elevation. We dropped to 7,000 and came out of the clouds. Canceled the IFR and squawked 1200 and dropped further to 5,500 as the air temp rose from the low of 32 the ice began to melt. As a few chunks came off, I lifted the nose and dropped the speed to 130knts to allow the ice to fall away as opposed to flying back into the prop. Within 3 minutes we were clear of all the ice and resumed a normal VFR cruise at 3,500 feet on to our destination.</DIV>
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<DIV>I don't know how many of you have flown into real icing conditions. I didn't think I ever would. But, given the right conditions, as I had today, and the opportunity to drop out of it at anytime. I thought it was a worthwhile opportunity to test the effects. The most interesting result was the increased engine temps.</DIV>
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<DIV>Just thought I would share the experience. I don't expect it to happen again.</DIV>
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<DIV>Now back to the continuing saga of "THE CAM LOCKS"</DIV>
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<DIV>Chris Martin</DIV>
<DIV>Velocity XL RG</DIV>
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<DIV>--- </DIV>
<DIV>--- <A href="mailto:christophercmartin@earthlink.net">christophercmartin@earthlink.net</A></DIV>
<DIV>--- EarthLink: It's your Internet.</DIV>
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