There is one thing that puzzles me all the time after watching the BBC documentary. They describe a scenario of pitot icing due to supercooled water that freezes all pitot tubes upon contact.This would mean that the a/c passed through an area that contained supercooled water droplets. But would not the whole outside structure (not only pitot tubes) of the a/c be subjected to instantly freezing of these droplets?
And what happens then with the handling characteristics of the a/c and its weight.I feel that this degradation of the flying capabilities of the a/c combined with the increased weight from icing would be a much bigger problem for the pilots than the failing airspeed indication.Perhaps somebody can comment on this...
WB