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  

 

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