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1 99 Flying-JOAOK 3/1/2012
OBJECTIVES
To enumerate the factors that cause icing
and to identify the problems associated with
different types of aircraft icing.
To describe criteria for reporting icing.
To outline the operation of various icing
protection systems.
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INTRODUCTION
• Problems with icing can occur both on the ground and in the
air
• Formation may cause
– serious loss of aircraft performance both in control and fuel
consumption.
• Airframe icing forms under these conditions
– Water is present in a liquid state
– The ambient air temperature is below 0°C
– The airframe temperature is below 0°C
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EFFECTS OF ICING
Aerodynamic
The spoilt aerodynamic shape tends to mean:
Reduced lift
Increased drag
Increased weight
Increased stalling speed
Increased fuel consumption
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EFFECTS OF ICING cont..
Weight
In severe icing conditions:
Loss of stability due to the uneven formation
of ice on the airframe
Altering centre of gravity
Ice break off from propellers can lead
to skin damage
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EFFECTS OF ICING cont..
Instruments
block pitot and static sources leading to false readings or
indications in any pressure instrument
Other Effects
Windscreens can be obscured
Ice or frost on the airframe increases friction
Ice in landing gear wells can cause difficulties in retraction
Ice on aerials can cause static charges
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ICING INDEX (RATE OF ACCRETION)
INDEX RATE
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ICAO DEFINITIONS
RATE ACTION
Light Icing Change of heading or altitude
not considered necessary
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REPORTING DEFINITIONS
• The following definitions are reporting definitions, they are not
necessarily the forecasting definitions
– Trace
• Ice becomes perceptible;
• rate of accumulation slightly greater than the rate of sublimation
• Not hazardous even though de-icing/anti-icing equipment is not used unless
ice is encountered for more than one hour.
– Light
• The rate of accumulation might create a problem if flight in this environment
exceeds 1 hour.
• Occasional use of de-icing/anti-icing equipment removes/prevents
accumulation
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REPORTING DEFINITIONS cont..
Moderate
The rate of accumulation is such that
even short encounters become potentially hazardous and
the use of de-icing/anti-icing equipment, or diversion, is necessary.
Severe
The rate of accumulation is such
that de-icing/anti-icing equipment fails to reduce or control the hazard.
Immediate diversion is necessary.
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ICE ACCRETION ON GROUND
• Frost Point
– The temp to which moist air must be cooled in order to just reach the
condition of saturation with respect to a plane ice surface.
– Further cooling induces deposition of ice in the form of hoar frost on
solid surfaces, including other ice surfaces.
• Packed Snow
– Fallen snow that collects on the upper surfaces of an aircraft.
• Hoar Frost
– A white semi-crystalline coating of ice that occurs in clear air.
– Forms on clear cloudless nights when the air temperature around the
aircraft falls below 0°C and then below the frost point temperature.
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ICE ACCRETION ON GROUND cont..
• Rime Frost
– A white opaque coating of ice that appears on the windward side of
objects.
– Forms from freezing fog or due small droplets. When the air
temperature falls below the dew point excess water vapour condenses
into water droplets.
• Glaze Ice
– A clear coating of ice which forms from rain freezing on a cold
aircraft.
– Rain falling from cold air ahead of a warm front, from NS, lands on
an aircraft with a skin temperature below freezing.
– The sheet of water formed on the aircraft freezes into a coating of
clear or glaze ice.
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ICE ACCRETION IN AIR
• Super Cooled Water Droplets
– Supercooled water droplets exist because of the lack of freezing
nuclei in the atmosphere.
– Airframe icing in flight caused
• by the collision of the aircraft with supercooled water droplets.
– Water droplets that remain liquid at temperatures below 0°C
• unstable and freeze on contact with an airframe.
– Supercooled water droplets exist from 0°C to –40°C and vary
in size considerably
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ICE ACCRETION IN AIR cont..
TEMPERATURE SIZES OF DROPLETS
0°C to –20°C Both large and small supercooled water
droplets can exist.
- 20°C to –40°C Large supercooled water droplets tend
to freeze. Small supercooled water
droplets can exist.
Below – 40°C Most droplets will have frozen. Some
very small droplets can remain in the
liquid state
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SIZES OF DROPLETS
• Large Supercooled Water Droplets Occur in:
– Large CU and CB from 0°C to – 20°C
– NS at temperatures from 0°C to – 10°C, or
– If the NS has been formed orographically between 0°C to –
20°C
• Small Supercooled Water Droplets at lower
temperatures where there are relatively weak up-currents of
air:
– Large CU and CB from – 20°C to – 40°C
– NS at temperatures from – 10°C to – 40°C
– ST, SC, AS, AC from 0 to – 40°C
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COLLISION WITH DROPLETS
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SPEED OF AIRCRAFT RELATIVE TO AIR
(TRUE AIR SPEED)
• The number of droplets hitting the aircraft depends
– upon the speed of the aircraft through the air
• At low speed
– mainly large droplets that impact since smaller droplets will be
displaced by the airflow round the wing
• At higher speeds
– smaller droplets are given less time to be deflected and strike the
leading edges of the aircraft.
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SPEED OF AIRCRAFT RELATIVE TO AIR
(TRUE AIR SPEED) cont..
Hence an aircraft:
Impacts with larger droplets more easily than small droplets
With a lower TAS an aircraft impacts with fewer droplets and at a
lower rate of impact
Is impacted more often on sharply curved parts such as radio
antennas
Is impacted by small droplets in the area around the stagnation point
of the wings, while large droplets hit the aircraft within a much
wider area.
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IMPACT ON AEROFOIL
• The airflow around a wing causes heating
– Due to friction against the wing leading edge
– Through adiabatic heating due to increased air pressure ahead of the wing.
• Increased airspeed leads to kinetic heating
– May take aircraft in or out of icing range & calculated as shown below
• Temperature Rise (°C) = (TAS ÷ 100)2
– Flying at speeds over 500 knots TAS results in a heating of the surface of
the aircraft of 25ºC (this may melt great deal of icing)
– speeds lower than 500 knots
• kinetic heating does not have as great an effect.
• Heating depends upon
– the heat conductivity of the aircraft material and will vary along the wings.
– A cooling effect due to evaporation from the leading edge of the wing will
be experienced.
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TYPES OF AIRFRAME ICING
• Glaze Ice or Clear Ice
• Forms due to presence of large super cooled water droplets
– only a fraction of the water droplet will freeze
– latent heat released allowing flowback over the wing.
– flowback over the wing gradually freezes slowly by conduction
– result is a hard translucent coating of ice that is both difficult to see
and difficult to remove.
• Usually classed as moderate to severe.
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TYPES OF AIRFRAME ICING cont..
• Rime Ice
• An opaque ice due small super cooled water droplets.
– Small super cooled water droplets tend to freeze immediately on
impact particularly at temperatures below – 20°C.
– The droplets solidify with no flowback and tend to trap pockets of
air between themselves.
– Rime Ice is opaque white appearance.
– Icing easy to see and brittle and easy to remove.
• Usually classed as light to moderate.
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TYPES OF AIRFRAME ICING cont..
• Mixed (Cloudy) Ice
• Mixed icing forms in clouds where:
– There are both large and small super-cooled water droplets
– There are strong and weak up-currents
– The temperature is intermediate between those required to form
the individual type of icing
• Mixed Ice will form in:
– NS around – 10°C
– CU and CB around – 20°C
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TYPES OF AIRFRAME ICING cont..
• RAIN ICE
• Forms by the same method as glaze ice.
– aircraft flying in cold air ahead of a warm front, above the freezing
level, with skin temperature below 0°C.
– Rain from the over lying warm sector, at temperatures above 0°C,
falls onto the cold aircraft.
– The super cooled water droplets
• striking the upper surfaces of the aircraft spread in the same manner as glaze
ice and creates a clear sheet of ice.
– The severe icing that forms is difficult to remove.
• occurs in a narrow range of altitudes at low level.
• Common in winter over Central Europe and North America.
24 99 Flying-JOAOK 3/1/2012
ICE PROTECTION
• Anti Icing
• Prevents the formation of ice. Normal anti icing systems include:
– Kill frost paste smeared along leading edges
– Heated windscreen and pressure head
– Hot air system on leading edges and tailplane
– Hot air system on engine cowling lips and spinner
– Anti icing fluids
• De Icing
• Removes ice accretion once it has formed
• can be chemical, thermal or mechanical:
– De icing fluids
– Pulsating rubber boots
– Hot air systems
– Electrical heating systems
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ENGINE ICING
TYPES
Piston engine icing
Carburettor Icing
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PISTON ENGINE ICING
• Impact Icing
– Ice collecting on the air intake reduces the size of the orifice until
the engine is starved of air
• Propeller Icing
– An aerofoil which can be changed in shape by icing, hence impairing
its efficiency
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CARBURETTOR ICING
• When air pressure decreases
– an adiabatic cooling takes place and, if the air is humid enough,
condensation occurs.
– At temperatures below zero, sublimation with the forming of ice crystals
takes place.
• In a piston engine
– evaporation and a reduction of pressure takes place in the carburettor.
• When humid air at temperatures between –18°C to +30°C is cooled
in (or against the cold material in) the carburettor
– ice plugs may form choking the engine.
– Carburettor ice is prevented or melted away by ducting pre-heated air
into the carburettor
• this has a negative effect on the power of the engine.
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CARBURETTOR ICING cont..
29 99 Flying-JOAOK 3/1/2012
JET ENGINE ICING
• Forms on intake lips or inlet guide vanes.
• Break-off of this icing can cause damage to the engine blades.
• May be encountered in the early inlet stages
– where the engine is at high speed and the aircraft speed is low.
– Adiabatic cooling may occur and temperature reductions of 5°C can
result.
• More prevalent in freezing conditions where there is precipitation.
• Engine anti icing must be selected when:
– There is precipitation
– The indicated outside air temperature is +10°C or below
30 99 Flying-JOAOK 3/1/2012
AVOIDANCE OF ICING
Never take off
with ice, frost or snow on an aircraft.
In flight
do not enter icing or potential icing situations unless the aircraft
is cleared for flight in icing conditions.
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