I heard that Georgian's OC has been restored. Is this true?
Just for some background.-- Air Georgian flies scheduled freight and is a subcontractor mainly for the company that distributes bank documents to every bank branch in Ontario, and then flies them all back every evening. Other freight is then 'piggy backed' on these runs.
This is a 12 month a year operation, and the company and its pilots are very experienced with the icing issues. If they did not fly every time 'light freezing drizzle' was forcast , they would be cancelling a lot of flights.They would lose their contract and be replaced by Navjo operators (single pilot to save weight).
This condition is forcast 'just in case' any time a winter warm front comes through Ontario, and the times that Georgian fly in the morning frequently makes them the weather observer for everyone else in Ontario in the morning.
By definition, freezing precip implies a temperature above zero somewhere above you, so it normally makes sense to climb into the unfrozen rain to deice if you get stuck. I have flown into Toronto in a caravan with a completely clean plane while airliners were arrivng complaining about 'severe icing'.
You have to watch the outside air temp and take action as soon as you see an inversion. The caravan is certified for known icing and is safe, in my opinion, as long as you are very careful to keep the speed up, the flaps still (preferably up) and a careful eye on outside air temp. I have seen 4 inches of ice on the thing, (I got caught out) and found that it flew OK, but I didn't experiment with speed under 120 or move extend the flaps. Needless to say that once on the ground, I didn't take off again.
Incidentally, the windshield deicing plate on the caravan is terrible. I personally would not fly any kind of circling approach with ice on this plane.
There is a step on the side of the plane and one uses it to get a look (and feel) at the top of the wing. It's easy to do, and Van drivers do it a lot if they suspect ice.
I also used to use the bugspray bottle with glycol in it. In the old freighter version there was a hot air vent just behind the pilot's seat. If you stand your bottle on it, the glycol stays warm and works much better.
Just some background and my opinion only (for the lawyers out there)
Rosbif