Aircraft Icing

 Aircraft Icing


        When talking about environmental factors that affect aircraft performance the first thing that comes to mind is icing. Icing can be one of the most dangerous things affecting an aircraft. Icing can adhere to any part of the aircraft adding undesirable weight. Icing adds a lot of drag, weight, and if encountered on the wings, it can reduce lift exponentially. Icing can be encountered both in the air and on the ground. In the air, icing can be found anywhere up to a temperature of approximately 10 degrees Celsius, and in visible moisture (rain, cloud, fog, etc). On the ground, in cold areas, snow can adhere to the aircraft and needs to be removed before flight. Fortunately, there are many ways to treat with, and even remove icing both in the ground and in the air.

        On the ground, there are de-icing procedures that consist of a special fluid that is sprayed on the wings and the entire structure of the airplane. This fluid will dilute the snow, and increase the freezing temperature; the fluid is usually based out of alcohol variants, and there are 4 different types of it, with each having different characteristics and uses.

        In the air, aircraft have both de-icing and anti-icing systems, where the first one removes icing that is already on the aircraft, and the second one preventing ice from forming. Usually while flying, the most dangerous parts of the aircraft to have icing are the wings and horizontal stabilizer, because they affect the performance of the aircraft the most, they add weight, and drag, it reduces lift, it changes the flying characteristics of the aircraft and it increasing the stall speed significantly, making this extremely dangerous.

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