Hello to you,
As a part of the theory education at my flight school (SAA in Sweden) we are to do a project about something related to aviation. The issue I have decided to investigate is the Cessna Caravan icing problems. I first came across it when reading an article about the Caravan in some magazine and a visit to aviation-safety.net confirmed, indeed there were quite some accidents involving the Caravan and many of them related to icing.
I can see a couple of factors why the Caravan is accident prone.
-The Caravan itself sensitive to any ice accumulated.
-The Commander making 'bad' decisions to take-off into icing conditions. Perhaps stressed or anxious about having to perform a flight even though the weather is marginal.
-The Operator, many accidents seem to strike contractors to majors like FedEx. Do they provide essential training on the Caravan in icing conditions? Contributing, many of them seem to operate the Caravan
single pilot.
-The area where many accidents have encountered is north of America and Canada, areas with mountanious terrain, fronts, lows etc.
I fancy the question at issue in a manner it involves both Principles of Flight and Human Performance.
The reason I am writing here is perhaps I could find a real Caravan pilot to share any ideas (if there are any to share?). I am not familiar with the Caravan aerodynamic characteristics, only the basic on how ice affect the performance. Higher stall speed, more drag etc.
Anyone involved in this kind of operation (as described above) or previously involved might have any furhter comments to add as to why the Caravan is so unlucky.
Thanks in advance for your help in this matter!
/Patrik