Island-Flyer Welcome on board. I envy you for the place where you are living. I remember that all American pilots who flew with me for an airline in the Gulf, in the late 90's, often said that they would be retiring in Honolulu. It never snows there does it!? Thank you for copying / pasting the FAA rules (I’m supposed to know them because I have an ATP), about aircraft de-icing.
The common practice is a close visual inspection of areas suspected of having contamination and often a tactile inspection to determine whether or not de-icing is required and after the de-icing process to determine that the contamination has been adequately removed.
How do you see if there is a deposition of snow, ice, or bird feces on the upper surface of the horizontal stabilizer of a DHC-8?
Whether a pilot has 20,000 hours or 2000 hours they can both make critical mistakes. At my company we call "experience" "tribal knowledge" and actively discourage it.
Does it apply also to people like me who has 22,000 hours? Of course I always left other fly desks, because I've always preferred, and still prefer, the "stick and rudder". Is it too little 35 years and over of flying in Europe, of wich at least ... let’s say ... many thousand hours in conditions of snow, ice, etc.. etc.. etc..? Have you ever seen this video?:
Tailplane Icing Look and learn from other’s experience. Let’s shout together: “HOW CAN YOU KNOW IF ANY KIND OF SNOW IS ‘ADHERING’ TO THE SURFACES OF YOUR AIRPLANE, AND NO ICE IS BENEATH IT, IF YOU DON'T REMOVE IT?” “NO CLEAN AIRCRAFT? NO FLY!!!" Fly Safe DOVE