The Russians in my opinion are the worlds most experienced people in operational flying in known ice.
Pilots I have talked with who have flown in Siberia and other places with ice tell me that the biggest problem is the weight accumulation of ice.
The Mi-17 like many other Russian designed helicopters actually does have a pretty simple ice accumulation detector device which is a small probe outside the left pilot side window and it has 3 red markings on it. When ice has accumulated past the last red line the helicopter is starting to get pretty heavy and it may be a good idea to start looking for a place to land, is what a Russian test pilot told me.
Mi-17 has anti-ice systems on the main rotor & tail rotor blades as well as engine intakes, pitot/static and windshield de-ice. Nothing else is needed.
Last edited by Aesir; 14th Dec 2005 at 15:56.