is the weight penalty of the de-ice worth the advantages in your experience? Must be about 125-145 pounds the best I can figure.
Difficult one to judge. If I count the value as the number of times the boots have actually been used, the answer is "no". If I count the value as the number of trips I didn't cancel and the stress avoided because they were there, the answer is "yes". To be honest, I rarely operate the aircraft as a tourer with more than 2 up, so the penalty is not a bit issue.
I don't think the penalty is really 125-145 lb, though the nitrogen bottle and plumbing is indeed heavy (from a CofG point of view I wish it were in the back rather than the nose). I think we really do have a heavy aeroplane compared to some of its peers - probably all that filler needed to compensate for the abuse over 40 years.
