Originally Posted by
snippercr
the question started off more as a safety thing, then I started wondering about the legality of it. I was worried about going into clouds and actually getting ice, now I know its just plain illegal which will keep me VFR for a while. it sticks cause now I have constant easy to access 1000 feet cigs with often low vis that Id just love to jump into and get some actual. Oh well, this is aviation.
It's not illegal to fly into conditions which might be conducive to icing, even in a non-ice airplane.
If icing was forecast, it's still technically not "known icing" but you could get in trouble if you got iced up and had to declare an emergency.
A PIREP is considered known icing.
I'm not advocating flight into possible icing, but a little light rime in the cloud tops is very common and is not likely to harm most GA aircraft. Cessnas can carry a lot of ice and still fly. I mention this so that if you do get into a light light rime at the freezing level you don't panic and do something silly (or dangerous). First order of business is to get out of the icing, then evaluate how much is still stuck to the airplane, and how that will affect the performance for the remainder of the flight. A precautionary landing at a nearby airport might be a good idea if it doesn't melt by itself.