Fear Of Prop Icing

[Hillbilly1236]

I'm a newby with a total of about 45 minutes of air time and all of it in sub freezing temps. I guess I bought the drone at a bad time. After reading a bunch of threads on this forum about prop icing and the crashes that followed, I've become paranoid about that happening to me and my new drone. Then I watch videos where drones are flying in sub freezing temps with heavy cloud cover, so the humidity levels must be high. In my inexperienced mind, I see that being a probable case for prop icing and yet nothing happens and great videos are produced. From my understanding, the thing to watch for is when the Dew point and the ambient temps are close to each other. How close is unknown and would be very helpful. The second part of the equation is how to determine the dew point or relative humidity. Do you trust the local weather report or get a meter to determine the actual RH and then calculate the dew point, for the location you are flying.

For the next month or more this will be an important consideration to determine if I can get some more flight time before the warmer weather shows up. Help and guidance appreciated.

 

[StantonZ]

You don't mention which drone, but you definitely shouldn't fly outside of the temperature specs (check the manual).
Seeing that you live in the Great White North, I would chill (pun intended) until things are at least above freezing (well within temp specs).
Good luck.

 

[Hillbilly1236]

You don't mention which drone, but you definitely shouldn't fly outside of the temperature specs (check the manual).
Seeing that you live in the Great White North, I would chill (pun intended) until things are at least above freezing (well within temp specs).
Good luck.

It's a Mini 2 and there are a lot of YT videos of people flying these in below freezing temps. There is one where the stated temp is -20C and the drone did fine. So far the warmest I have flown in was between -10C and -15C, with no issues but I only flew when it was sunny and no clouds in sight. So the air was pretty dry and the weather station stated the dew point was 10C to 15C lower than the ambient temps. So safe as far as prop icing goes, I think.

 

[StantonZ]

So safe as far as prop icing goes, I think.

Might be safe for the props, but not necessarily the electronics. Particularly at low temps with condensation, you can't "peek inside" the drone (which gets very hot) to see what's happening. And don't forget about battery efficiency.
Just because folks fly outside of temp specs doesn't mean it's a good idea. Just sayin'

 

[bumper]

Pilots of small aircraft have a lot more at stake when avoiding icing - our butts come to mind. Anyway, it takes visible moisture, along with cold temps of course, to cause airframe or prop icing.

 

[eaglesurfing]

You can tell when it is foggy or the extra moisture.
Take it out and do some test flights then keep it low.
Bring it back to you and check the props.
Some people will ignore the manual and fly it anyway.
Choice is really yours but it is to cold for these old bones.

 

[Hillbilly1236]

Might be safe for the props, but not necessarily the electronics. Particularly at low temps with condensation, you can't "peek inside" the drone (which gets very hot) to see what's happening. And don't forget about battery efficiency.
Just because folks fly outside of temp specs doesn't mean it's a good idea. Just sayin'

Good points. I wonder why the Air 2 can be flown at -10C but the Mini2 is only rated to 0C. I'm not too concerned about the battery efficiency since I have 3 of them and from my experience so far, the battery lasts for a long time, even in these cold temps. Longer than I want to stand outside with bare hands. I've read some other threads where members say the same thing about battery efficiency.

Pilots of small aircraft have a lot more at stake when avoiding icing - our butts come to mind. Anyway, it takes visible moisture, along with cold temps of course, to cause airframe or prop icing.

Yup! If I crash the Mini2, I'm out a few $ but will live to talk about it. Not neccessarily the case with real AC's. Thanks for the tip about visible moisture. Certainly wouldn't want to fly my drone in those conditions and I'm sure enough moisture will do more than ice the props.

 

[Hillbilly1236]

You can tell when it is foggy or the extra moisture.
Take it out and do some test flights then keep it low.
Bring it back to you and check the props.
Some people will ignore the manual and fly it anyway.
Choice is really yours but it is to cold for these old bones.

It's pretty hard to sit here with the new toy and not be able to use it. I'm willing to take some risk with it but something so obviously bad for it, like flying in the rain or excessive moisture in the air. I'm curiouos why the othe DJI AC can fly in colder weather. I might just sent them an email and ask that question.

My bones are almost the same age as yours, lol.

 

[StantonZ]

Good points. I wonder why the Air 2 can be flown at -10C but the Mini2 is only rated to 0C.

Without seeing a parts list, all I can offer is speculation.
The MA2 has an internal fan and the MM2 does not; that tells me the MA2 generates more heat...enough that it needs help dissipating. So, there's probably enough self-heating going on "under the hood" that it can operate at a lower ambient temp. You can ask the same question at the upper end of the temp range, but I suspect the (obvious) natural airflow during flight helps dissipate heat (in addition to the MA2 fan).

 

[Hillbilly1236]

Without seeing a parts list, all I can offer is speculation.
The MA2 has an internal fan and the MM2 does not; that tells me the MA2 generates more heat...enough that it needs help dissipating. So, there's probably enough self-heating going on "under the hood" that it can operate at a lower ambient temp. You can ask the same question at the upper end of the temp range, but I suspect the (obvious) natural airflow during flight helps dissipate heat (in addition to the MA2 fan).

Makes sense and thanks for that.

 

[Thomas B]

Without seeing a parts list, all I can offer is speculation.
The MA2 has an internal fan and the MM2 does not; that tells me the MA2 generates more heat...enough that it needs help dissipating. So, there's probably enough self-heating going on "under the hood" that it can operate at a lower ambient temp. You can ask the same question at the upper end of the temp range, but I suspect the (obvious) natural airflow during flight helps dissipate heat (in addition to the MA2 fan).

Pure assumption not well founded.
I have no data either... but the absence of a fan says nothing about heat generation per se. I might be adequacy of ventilation, or even simply weight reduction in this case.

 

[MA2 317]

Just a thought about prop icing...Would dipping the props in windshield deicing fluid work? ?

 

[dan.utinske]

In General Aviation icing occurs when there's visible moisture (clouds, midst, ect) and outside temp is 40F or less. Especially dangerous on a high speed spinning prop. Asymmetrical ice shedding is will cause failure of the props or the icing of the drone as it moves through the air will exceed weight limits when combined with the icing props.

 

[Repaid1]

MA2 317" data-source="post: 1207629" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

Just a thought about prop icing...Would dipping the props in windshield deicing fluid work? ?

Only works when first applied, would be spun off...however "waxing" your props with Rain-X would/should have a greater effect. A old trick learned when living in the frozen north states and I would do my whole car with it.

​

 

[MA2 317]

Only works when first applied, would be spun off...however "waxing" your props with Rain-X would/should have a greater effect. A old trick learned when living in the frozen north states and I would do my whole car with it.

​

I forgot about Rain-X.
Never thought about doing the whole vehicle.
It is some neat stuff.

I have no intensions of flying in such conditions but I might purchase a bottle and put it in my kit.

 

[hiflyer201]

So far the warmest I have flown in was between -10C and -15C, with no issues but I only flew when it was sunny and no clouds in sight

you need visible moisture ...fog

 

[spamgnome]

you need visible moisture ...fog

This is the key. VISIBLE moisture. Don't worry about the temperature / dew point spread. That's a red herring. As long as you're not flying through fog or clouds (which creates other issues, like the drone is out of VLOS) you should be fine as it relates to icing. As others have mentioned, if you fly outside the recommended temperature ranges, you might have other issues, but prop icing will not be among them.

 

[chakalakasp]

MA2 317" data-source="post: 1207629" class="bbCodeBlock bbCodeBlock--expandable bbCodeBlock--quote js-expandWatch">

Just a thought about prop icing...Would dipping the props in windshield deicing fluid work? ?

For the first 2 seconds of the flight before the thousands of RPMs of spin flung all the fluid off, sure

 

[Cagey]

If in any doubt, take off & hover, do your control checks then land and look for icing. If clear, try a longer flight, land & check. Still clear, have fun! Any doubt, pack up and try another day. ?

 

[Josiah S]

We had a bad ice storm in Illinois a month or so ago and it was so pretty with all the ice on the trees. There was a really heavy fog and it was 32 degrees f when I went to take my Mavic air 2 out to fly. 7 or so minuets after takeoff and my Mavic was nose down in the snow with a Brocken arm. It was because of prop icing. I had never heard of prop icing until then. I sent my drone in to dji and they had it fixed in 2 weeks and sent back to me. I had no warrante or anything but for whatever reason (I’m not complaining) they replaced it for free. Do not fly in cold foggy temps. Always remember that the air is colder the higher you get.