9.2 Weather Hazards

 Weather Hazards: Icing

Flight Safety is the most important necessity when it comes to aircraft design and operations. Flight safety though can be affected by several unfavorable meteorological conditions. There are several weather hazards that may impact aviation operations, however, the one which I feel poses the biggest threat to operations is icing. Icing occurs when precipitation aggregates on any part of the external structure of an aircraft. Ice may affect the function of the wings, propellers, control surface, and even pilot tubes, air intakes, and radio antennas. Aircraft encountering icing may experience an increase of aerodynamic weight and drag and a reduction in lift and thrust which may result in extremely dangerous flying. There are three types of icing, these include; rime, clear, and mixed. The most common type of icing is rime. This occurs when raindrops quickly freeze upon striking the aircraft. Rime ice usually stays on the leading edges of an aircraft. Clear ice, unlike rime icing, is denser which causes it to spread to greater parts of the aircraft. And mixed ice is the combination of both clear and rime icing. This type of icing appears in layers of both clear and opaque ice. (Federal Aviation Administration, 2010). The conditions in which icing occurs need two have two certain things, the aircraft must be in flight through visible rain, and the temperature at which the moisture hits an aircraft must be 0 degrees Celsius or colder. Though the condition that is most favorable for hazardous icing is the presence of several large supercooled water drops. One of the earliest signs of icing is the decrease in airspeed. This is caused by clear icing on the top and bottom of the leading edge affecting the airflow (Skybrary, n.d.). If exposed to icing for a long period of time, the aircraft will lose the ability to stay stable and render the aircraft uncontrollable which can be extremely unsafe. The pilot should then notify ATC of the issue and request lower altitude and a way to safer air where icing won’t happen. It is extremely important for pilots and ATC to plan ahead and keep track of weather conditions during every flight and the implementation of an ice protection system to avoid aircrafts entering hazardous weather conditions like icing. 


Aviation | Hazards | Icing | World Meteorological Organization



References: 

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2010). Chapter 10: Icing. https://www.faa.gov/documentlibrary/media/advisory_circular/ac%2000-6a%20chap%2010-12.pdf 

Skybrary. (n.d.). In-Flight Icing. Weather. https://skybrary.aero/articles/flight-icing  

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4.3 Aviation Security

Image
  Arely Zamudio Threats from Insiders: There have been numerous of enchantments to the security of aviation, especially after the 9/11 attack, however, there are still several security threats that the aviation industry is vulnerable to. One of these threats is called “insider threat”. The inside threat is primary the risk of airline employees having admission to sensitive and restricted information and areas. These employees have access to a large portion of areas in airports which offers them the opportunity to attack an aircraft by evident or concealed means. They can: share sensitive procedures, plant explosives or weapons on aircraft, and tamper with any security systems in aircraft (Black, 2010). Federal agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) or the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) have implemented several procedures and requirements in order to decrease the likely hood of an inside threat. Employees in the aviation industry, specifically those wor
Read more

5.3 Team Based Human Factors Challenges

Image
 Team-Based Human Factors Human factors, relating to the aviation industry, are human conditions that contribute to accidents and incidents correlating to aircraft. Human factors can range from physical, emotional, and even mental elements in one's life. Because human factors are more probable, 60%-80%, to cause aviation accidents than that of any mechanical failure, it is important to understand exactly how that is and how that can be reduced (Aurino, 2010). There are several disciplines that make up human factors such as; educational, clinical, experimental, and organizational psychology, anthropometrics, computer, medical, and cognitive science, and safety engineering. By recognizing these disciples in understanding human factors, there is hope to take action before anything happens. (FAA, 2016).  Crew Resource Management or CRM, is a process that is used by the aircraft crew members to identify current and potential threats then develop plans in order to convey and execute th
Read more

6.2 Legislative Acts

Image
  Aviation and Transportation Security Act On September 11, 2001, approximately nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airplanes in a terrorist attack on the Twin Towers of the World Center. This was an extremely tragic event in the United States, following this attack, airport security improvement was a key feature of global anti-terrorism efforts. On November 18 and 19 2001, the United States Congress enacted an act called the Aviation and Transportation Security Act. The goal of this act was to standardize pre-flight passengers and cargo screening by decentralizing security services and screening personnel in airports. Prior to the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, airport security guidelines and procedures were quite general and imprecise. Therefore, this act was truly essential to the aviation industry because it created what now we call the Federal Transportation Security Administration or TSA (National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, 2003).
Read more