I understand what you are driving at in various posts and have both heard it said by Captains I used to fly with and have made such a decision myself dozens of years ago on cold wings, very cold day, light, dry snow conditions, (-30 to -40C). It is a decision which at the time, seemed reasonable. Today it is not. I know of no research, no incidents and no concerns backed up with data (and not just opinions, professional or otherwise), that an aircraft wing can be considered contaminated when sprayed with any type of fluid or gel.
PJ2,
Thank you for that. I essentially agree and have tried repeatedly to make that clear. Contaminated flight surfaces are nothing to gamble with and I never have. My one and only point here has been that the leap to "convicting" the crew of the flight in question with a label of "unsafe" was unfair, uninformed, and inexperienced. IMHO. If I had been sitting next to him I may also have jumped on the radio with my concern - only if I saw it as truly contaminated with adhering ice. The original poster may have been right on, I can't say because I wasn't there and the temp wasn't THAT cold and the wind wasn't substantial. He never indicated there was any ice present, just a very fresh bit of snowfall in well below freezing temps. Many people decided that was enough to hang the spaniard, it wasn't. I support the SOP, I've said it before on this thread, it is clearly a safety improvement.