Originally Posted by
DublinFlyer
It's not something I remember from any of my training, we may have talked about it, but it certainly wasn't anything we mulled over for a long time as I don't remember it. Either way, better learning about it late than never. Do you suggest any good reading material that I can use to further educate myself on this? I try and take my job as seriously as I can, and I realize I have a lot of responsibility so I have no problem admitting to not knowing something. My grandfather told me once that "There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots." I want to be the old one.
So I was also doing some snooping around, and apparently back in December of 1989 out in Washington state, there was a United Express prop plane that went down as a result of icing, and it sounded from what information I could gather similar to what we are talking about here. It's United Express 2415 I think it was. Here is a link to the NTSB about it.
DCA90MA011
The video posted above is what we watched. I was wrong in my post about what NASA actually did, but, its the same video. If you don't get it after watching that video, you never will. The video is excellent.
I think the takeaway is ..
-Don't use autopilot during icing conditions as it might mask a tailplane ice stall situation
-Higher power, speed will worsen the situation. Apply power judiciously and maintain precise airspeed
-Avoid high flap settings in icing (if possible), if not, give yourself plenty of altitude for recovery
-Make pitch chages slowly. If you have any difficulties trimming, lightening of the controls, you may be enterring a tailplane stall.
-Use anti-ice systems.
-Recovery usually means raising the nose, reducing flaps, and reducing power.
-Fatty