I'd like to see stratus 2000ft thick, flown through in 2-3 minutes, that would accumulate more than a few mm of ice. 90% of the time, there would be zero ice.
Bet let me qualify this: I have a TKS prop which also keeps the front window clear, and the TKS comes ON anything below 0C 1-2 mins before entry into IMC.
That King Air, being fairly upmarket, should have had a heated screen which should been on similarly on that flight, so I don't see why his window turned white. Was he not paying attention?
As for the jet, it might plummet with 2mm of ice for all I know - I have no idea how e.g. laminar flow wings work or don't work. But the story doesn't ring true. A standard strategy for icing is a significant change of level - ice tends to be constrained vertically by a few thousand feet - and subject to having the performance, or there being no terrain, one would either climb or descend. A jet would never be stuck in a 3500ft thick layer - what the hell was he doing? At some 10,000fpm he could have got out of it in seconds. Even under ATC direction, he would have declared a mayday and got out of it. Maybe he wasn't telling the whole story. You say "clouds that where supposed to be without icing" but there can be no such thing. Who said the clouds would have no ice?
Last edited by IO540; 9th Nov 2007 at 08:14.