I've also heard that thing about birdstrikes before.
My Ops Manual says to put it on during line-up. Beechcraft says that the heat can be used at any time. But sooner or later the heat will cause the windshield to crack, we have 3 cracked ones lying around to prove it. When the last one went I was sitting behind it at FL 270
, it's not a pleasant experience. Remember the old car windscreens, that's how mine looked.
@ sheep guts, I personally think it's better to use it as a anti-ice system than as a de-ice system. My experience is that when you put it on when you
are in icing conditions in stead of
before ,you run the risk of having to land with an iced up windshield. A lot of times I found the windshield heat not sufficient to get rid of the ice, only when we passed the freezing level the ice broke off, so in winter you might have a problem.
About the distortion, I dont't find it a big problem. You should try the Beechjet 400A where you
have to land with the heat on, THAT'S distortion
