Props iced up!

Jeff A · Apr 12, 2020

Hopper13 said:
Sure is! I don’t fly anymore, but my last plane had boots and hot props.

Clear ice and boots can lead to a nasty situation when the clear ice forms the profile of the inflated boot. So what was your aircraft?

Jetdriver100 · Apr 12, 2020

Hopper13 said:
Sure is! I don’t fly anymore, but my last plane had boots and hot props.

I have years flying the Dash 8 Classic. / the 300 and the Q400.

Flying the Mav is way more FUN!

Hopper13 · Apr 12, 2020

Effects said:
Clear ice and boots can lead to a nasty situation when the clear ice forms the profile of the inflated boot. So what was your aircraft?

It sure can! I am Commercial/Multi/Instrument with a couple thousand hours, but haven’t flown in 15 years. My last plane was a Machen Superstar 700.

Jetdriver100 · Apr 12, 2020

Hopper13 said:
It sure can! I am Commercial/Multi/Instrument with a couple thousand hours, but haven’t flown in 15 years. My last plane was a Machen Superstar 700.

Oh Wow! Cool! You gave it up?
With the Virus.. I find myself with lots of time off at the moment. It's really nice to be home. I'm around 16,000. hours now. 30 + years and 5 more to go till retire

Started on a de havilland Beaver on floats. That's when it was really fun!

Jeff A · Apr 12, 2020

Hopper13 said:
It sure can! I am Commercial/Multi/Instrument with a couple thousand hours, but haven’t flown in 15 years. My last plane was a Machen Superstar 700.

That looks like pretty cool ride. I have never flown an Aerostar or any of it's derivatives but it was one aircraft that we considered at one company I worked for but we never had a demo. We wound up with a new Cessna 340.

Jetdriver100 · Apr 12, 2020

Effects said:
That looks like pretty cool ride. I have never flown an Aerostar or any of it's derivatives but it was one aircraft that we considered at one company I worked for but we never had a demo. We wound up with a new Cessna 340.

Still Flying?

Jeff A · Apr 12, 2020

Jetdriver100 said:
Still Flying?

I wish I was, but no. Aircraft sales, old age and health problems were the perfect Trifecta for me. I just looked to see and I was shocked to see that it was August, 2006 when I delivered the Challenger 601-3R I was flying for Pre-Purchase inspection. After that I worked as a Contract pilot flying 601's and 604's for about a year, then it was over with. I survived a little more than 18,000 hours but I was not tired of it. Every day that I sat in that seat, I felt like the luckiest S.O.B. on the planet, but I was 64 by then. I can't complain.

So I largely by passed Turbo Props in my career but after riding in a Q400 a couple of times I thought that would be a cool Aircraft to fly. Was it?

Jetdriver100 · Apr 12, 2020

Effects said:
I wish I was, but no. Aircraft sales, old age and health problems were the perfect Trifecta for me. I just looked to see and I was shocked to see that it was August, 2006 when I delivered the Challenger 601-3R I was flying for Pre-Purchase inspection. After that I worked as a Contract pilot flying 601's and 604's for about a year, then it was over with. I survived a little more than 18,000 hours but I was not tired of it. Every day that I sat in that seat, I felt like the luckiest S.O.B. on the planet, but I was 64 by then. I can't complain.

So I largely by passed Turbo Props in my career but after riding in a Q400 a couple of times I thought that would be a cool Aircraft to fly. Was it?

Wow! That's a lot of hours in the seat!! Good going!!

The Q400 is a very nice aircraft. Fun to fly. You get a little tired of trimming the rudder back and forth every time you touch the power levers. And, it would have been nice if they gave it a little suspension for landing the thing. Ton's of power though! It uses almost the same amount of runway as the CRJ.

Hopper13 · Apr 13, 2020

Jetdriver100 said:
Oh Wow! Cool! You gave it up?
With the Virus.. I find myself with lots of time off at the moment. It's really nice to be home. I'm around 16,000. hours now. 30 + years and 5 more to go till retire Started on a de havilland Beaver on floats. That's when it was really fun!

Wow, a Beaver on floats would be enough to get me back! I was a hobby pilot and it just got to the point where I didn't have the time to fly as much as I thought I needed to fly to stay sharp.

Hopper13 · Apr 13, 2020

The

Effects said:
That looks like pretty cool ride. I have never flown an Aerostar or any of it's derivatives but it was one aircraft that we considered at one company I worked for but we never had a demo. We wound up with a new Cessna 340.

Aerostar is a sweet plane to fly. I loved it. Light and very responsive. Much more of a pilot’s plane than the 340 IMHO.

Jetdriver100 · Apr 13, 2020

Hopper13 said:
Wow, a Beaver on floats would be enough to get me back! I was a hobby pilot and it just got to the point where I didn't have the time to fly as much as I thought I needed to fly to stay sharp.

Yes. and it is a pretty expensive hobby anymore. The float flying was my favourite. If I could afford it, it would be an amphibious for popping into all the little lakes around us for 1000's of miles. Then be able to land at the airport and keep it nice in a hanger. Lottery!

dougiefresh27 · Apr 18, 2020

I guess if you would fly a plane full of people in that weather, we probably shouldn't fly our drone.
Good learning though

Donnie Frank · Apr 19, 2020

Ray Dunakin said:
I usually fly in the desert, and very rarely in freezing cold conditions. But recently I've had the opportunity to make a couple trips to the mountains during snow storms. I had lots of successful flights without any problems.

However, on one flight with my Mavic Pro I found out what happens when the props ice up. It was foggy, with the temperature right at freezing.

The drone was about a 1/4 mile away when I started getting some strange error messages. First was a message that said something about motor voltage and "check the props". A moment later I got a big red message that said something like, "over-voltage battery discharge" (I don't recall the exact wording).

I had already started to bring the drone back but right after that last message came up, the drone suddenly wobbled a bit and began dropping rapidly. I tried to aim it for a small clearing between the trees, and luckily that's where it went down. It came down on soft snow and somehow flipped over on its back but was unharmed.

When I found the drone it had ice crusted on the underside and trailing edges of the props. I removed the ice and tried out the drone again, and it was fine.

After that I moved to a different area and didn't have any further icing problems.

The experience was a bit alarming, mainly because I was worried it might end up in the top of a tree. But it was also rather interesting, and fortunately no harm was done.

Has anyone else experienced this?