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Air 1 Local view in the snow

KingRat

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May 27, 2020
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My neighbours wanted a picture of their house(s). It snowed last night heavily, the first we have had for about 10 years so it was an ideal opportunity. I warmed the battery inside my jacket for 20 minutes waiting for the sun to pop up and I kept an idea on the stability, aware of the possibility of icing on the props.

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My neighbours wanted a picture of their house(s). It snowed last night heavily, the first we have had for about 10 years so it was an ideal opportunity. I warmed the battery inside my jacket for 20 minutes waiting for the sun to pop up and I kept an idea on the stability, aware of the possibility of icing on the props.

View attachment 122503
Why would you worry about the props icing? Are you aware of or understand what conditions you need to produce an icing situation? Too many people worry about icing, the moment the weather turns cold.

I will guess that, like most, you do not understand how/why props would ice up, but please correct me if I am wrong. To help you and others out, to understand the phenomenon, I will make it as simple as possible. First off, you rarely get icing conditions in the weather most people fly. It is not just cold weather that is needed to cause icing conditions, it is two main things and that is temp and humidity. Also, remember that temps. humidity can change with altitude.

In a nutshell, you will never be in icing conditions no matter how cold it gets (ambient temp wise) unless you have two important temperatures being exactly the same or as close to each other as possible. These being the ambient temperature, the air temp. and the dew point. When these two are spot on or close, that will be the perfect conditions for icing to become something you need to worry about.

The further apart these two temps. are, the less likely it will be that you will experience icing conditions. Therefore, check those two things every day that you intend to fly in cold weather and that will be your best indication of whether or not you will be experiencing icing conditions. I think you will find that by checking these two temps all winter long, you will find that they are rarely exactly the same or even extremely close to each other (by a few degrees). Of course it also depends what the weather/temps./humidity are like in a particular area that one lives. Many people will never be in conditions that will ever give them icing problems.

When flying real aircraft that we sit in, if we do encounter icing conditions, a simple change in altitude, up or down, is usually enough to get out of those icing conditions. With that said, it is not going to be a simple few hundred feet difference though. Hope this has helped to make you feel more confident about flying in cold weather and not worry so much about icing conditions.
 
Why would you worry about the props icing? Are you aware of or understand what conditions you need to produce an icing situation? Too many people worry about icing, the moment the weather turns cold.

I will guess that, like most, you do not understand how/why props would ice up, but please correct me if I am wrong. To help you and others out, to understand the phenomenon, I will make it as simple as possible. First off, you rarely get icing conditions in the weather most people fly. It is not just cold weather that is needed to cause icing conditions, it is two main things and that is temp and humidity. Also, remember that temps. humidity can change with altitude.

In a nutshell, you will never be in icing conditions no matter how cold it gets (ambient temp wise) unless you have two important temperatures being exactly the same or as close to each other as possible. These being the ambient temperature, the air temp. and the dew point. When these two are spot on or close, that will be the perfect conditions for icing to become something you need to worry about.

The further apart these two temps. are, the less likely it will be that you will experience icing conditions. Therefore, check those two things every day that you intend to fly in cold weather and that will be your best indication of whether or not you will be experiencing icing conditions. I think you will find that by checking these two temps all winter long, you will find that they are rarely exactly the same or even extremely close to each other (by a few degrees). Of course it also depends what the weather/temps./humidity are like in a particular area that one lives. Many people will never be in conditions that will ever give them icing problems.

When flying real aircraft that we sit in, if we do encounter icing conditions, a simple change in altitude, up or down, is usually enough to get out of those icing conditions. With that said, it is not going to be a simple few hundred feet difference though. Hope this has helped to make you feel more confident about flying in cold weather and not worry so much about icing conditions.

Thank you for the explanation. I do have an inclination about meteorology as a seafarer all my life. It had just stopped snowing, so precipitation in the air puts it close to dew point (Boyle's Laws).
 
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