Originally Posted by
Chris Martyr
Carburettor icing can happen at any time of year and is no big deal . Airframe icing is another matter and that can kill you.
I can only agree with your second sentence here Chris.
While you are correct that carburetor icing can happen at any time of the year, please don't suggest to anyone, especially younger (and often impressionable) pilots, that any situation that deprives an aircraft or its engine of performance is "no big deal."
I almost gave up on flying because of a bad carburetor icing encounter, and the ink on my PPL was not even dry yet. The engine stopped and I was gliding for two thousand feet before the carburetor heater started working and brought the engine back. I was not flying over the most inhospitable terrain in the world, but my options were limited to ditching in a lake or picking hilly fields just long enough to avoid breaking all my bones.
The problem? I had listened to a new instructor at the club who was teaching his students that, in certain conditions (such as I had on this particular day), the carb heat should be pulled half-way out to increase the air temperature and prevent carb ice. I was young and impressionable and listened to him. Looking back, it was the most inane suggestion I've heard from an instructor.