skypimp92

Hey,
So I wanted to get some people's opinions/advice about a choice i made about a flight I made. I am an instrument rated pilot with 220 hours, working towards my single engine commercial. I made a flight the other day in a 172sp with an overcast layer with the bottom at 3,500msl and tops at 5,500msl with clear blue skies above. The freezing leveL was at the surface. I made the choice to go through the cloud layer and climbed upto 8,000msl after looking at the weather with no Airmets for icing,a pilot report out of the airport i was departing with negative icing, and the direction i was heading the cloud layer was becoming scattered to few. I made it through the clouds with neg icing. I was wondering if the choice i made was well thought out and if the choice i made was right or wrong. Also the airports in my area are around 800ft msl

TonyWilliams

Your choice worked out, so it seems good on the surface. If it had not worked out, then I guess I'd have a different opinion.

Generally, I'd say you were legal. And safe. But, you do recognize how quickly being legal can become a nightmare in an underpowered plane not capable of dealing with ice?

What would you have done had you encountered icing while climbing, and the plane stopped climbing?

N9373M

Well, no airmets or pireps so that's helps on the legal side.

Pretty high ceilings (3500) so that helps getting back to departure if needed.

Most important thing is having "outs" which it appears you had until the destination. Wx was "improving" from scattered to few - what if it went crappy and low ceilings?

DC8DRIVER

Sounds like a good call. Just always be sure to leave yourself an "out" ... somewhere.
8

skypimp92

I was in a major radar area with many airports along the route of flight with instrument approaches. The flight was only about 75nm from airport A to B and made the choice that i would land soon if the weather changed for the worse.I was also listening to awos from varies airports along the route to keep taps on the weather. The only reason Ive asked this question was because I was called a reckless pilot for making this choice and i wanted other pilots to weigh on this.

flyandive

Well, I think you entered a bit of a legal grey area. You took an airplane that is not certified for flight into known icing conditions into what would be considered icing conditions but there was obviously no visible ice accumulation. The FAA has ALWAYS ruled in the past that there does NOT need to be a PIREP or Airmet for an area to be considered known icing conditions. It just needs to be below freezing with visible moisture.
Although there will be plenty of people on here who will disagree with me on the legality, it is how the FAA has ruled in the past whenever a pilot has been violated and used the defense, "well it wasn't reported." It doesn't have to be. My personal opinion is that what you did was not unsafe, you had an out, which is a must, even if you are going to have an airplane that is certified. Unless you are flying commercially (freight or passengers) you will probably not get much ice experience.

PW305

skypimp,
As you progress through your aviation career you'll come to understand that instead of 'right or wrong' your decisions are merely risk management equations. For any given flight you have to weigh safety, legality, convenience, comfort & necessity... and ultimately make decisions that balance these items in the most safety conscious manner.

In your case, what was the justification of climbing to 8000' for a 75nm flight? If there was no reason, then maybe the risk wasn't worth it. If there was an operational rational (wind/fuel burn/turbulence) then perhaps it was worth the slight increase in the risk of icing.

Just another example: If I said, 'take that 172 over to XYZ where there is an 1800' strip' you'd probably say, 'I can do that, no problem'. Now if you fly to XYZ and suddenly there was a 4000' runway parallel to it, which runway would you choose? What if the short runway is right next to the FBO and you're late for a meeting? What is an acceptable level of risk for you in this situation?

Have a well thought out rational for every decision you make, and if there's no good reason otherwise always choose the option that carries less risk.

stbloc

when I did my IFR training my instructor would take me into icing multiple times. Was it legal? I didn't know I was just a student. Did I lear valuable lesson on icing? absolutely. I look back on those days and wonder why he would do this but he will always be the best instructor I ever flew with. When we landed our post flight was scraping the leading edge of the wing off. I remeber filing a special VFR durring a snow storm working on pattern work. what a crazy man. The purpose of this was to show his students how icing will change the performance greatly, and it did. It is virtually impossible to fly IFR up north in the winter because you will pick up some level of icing every time in the clouds in the winter.

PearlPilot

Skypimp,
I am right in your boat of working toward the single engine commercial with about 200 hours. I have had 2 encounters with rime ice and although they didn't in any way degrade performance, it scared the heck out of me. I agree with flyandive, in that you should never base your decision based on PIREPS and published AIRMETS etc. Flight plan for yourself and when it comes to instrument flying and flying through visible moisture you really need to exercise sound judgment. If in your flight planning you determine that the freezing level lies at X altitude and there is a cloud layer at that altitude then it's probably not a good idea to fly through it in a Skyhawk. I did fly a high performance aircraft through such a layer and was able to get on top soon and break out. We still accumulated some rime ice, but I was with a highly experienced instructor/airline pilot who instantly told me the dangers of icing and how he never messes around with even a little bit of ice. Because it was a high performance airplane and he knew darn well he could break out soon, he made the decision to fly through the layer. I think it all boils down to experience and good judgment. Good luck and fly safe.

WalkOfShame

I'm not one to judge, but I always reminded my instrument students that just because there's no Airmet or PIREP for ice, doesn't mean it's not there. Just use good ADM and make safe decisions, that's all I ask.