yes, ice was a problem for me. fortunately, we were winding down a job and so poor weather was not really as big a deal as it might have been. there were definitely a couple of occasions where our days were cut short due to icing on both the blades and the airframe.
i feel sorry for the 44 driver as that is a long way to go in ice but in the north with such short days and not much in the way of safe havens it is often the lesser of two evils.
hopefully he is buying new LONG underwear!
fp