Hello all.
FAA today published a SAFO on icing for Part 91, 125 and 135 operators.
Basically it is about possiblity of taking off with polished frosting on the wings or control surfaces (currently still allowed
).
To see more of it, here is the
link.
Since I have worked at several OEMs on closely related problems I can safely say that this is the biggest no-no, from ANY point of view. Sadly from what we've seen in the last 10 years there exist a bunch of people (mostly bizjet crowd) willing to take off with accumulated ice (mostly overnight) or without anti-icing on.
Please take care and do have it (a-i) on before take-off anyway since the price can be too big.
The drop in lift is so large and the airflow is so screwed up with only few traces of ice that you really need to be very, very lucky in order to take off like this and survive.
By the way - polished icing - I mean really...
Never, never consider flying with polished ice. That is why there is a hefty a-i system installed.
Cheers