Aircraft Icing Essay Example for Free

Aircraft frost EssayIce and aircrafts ar never a good combination. Ice, which can store up on any part of the aircraft, is most dangerous when it accumulates on the wings or similar airfoils. These internal-combustion locomotive engine encounters cause many fatalities a year, fatalities that could be prevented if pilots use the strategies and tactics that are at their disposal to repress chalk dangers. In course freeze is always a concern and should be treated with an expedited response, however, straitlaced avoidance of frappe conditions begins on the found during preflight. This safety report will discuss the many eccentric persons of icing and their effects on flight. Along with the effects of icing on an aircraft, this report will examine the procedures to come out when reacting to these icing conditions. This report will include accident data as reported by the topic Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and more importantly the research and technologies develope d to help reduce icing-related zephyr accidents. Aircraft icing Aircraft Icing What are the Causes and Possible Solutions? Icing is a definite weather hazard to aircraft.Icing refers to any deposit or coating of nut case on an aircraft. Two causes of icing are sarcastic in the operation of aircraft inductor icing and morphological icing. An another(prenominal) important knead of structural icing whitethorn affect the runway or other resources used by aircraft. A runway coer with even a thin film of tripe can cause passing play of directional image and make braking efforts completely ineffective while the craft is on the ground (Roy, Steuernagle, Wright, 2008). In flight, including the takeoff, the threat of nut hazard is increased.Icing CausesCommon sense tells us that winter time brings on icing conditions, however, icing is present, or potentially present, somewhere in the atmosphere at all times, no matter what the season. The mystery story is the freezing level of altitude, which may be around 15,000 feet during the summer and perhaps as low as 1,000 feet above ground level (AGL) on those warm winter days (Lester, 2004). Carburetor icing When the temperature and dew acme are close, you can be certain that urine vapor is condensing within the carburettor of an aircraft reciprocating engine, and, if the engine is run at low speed, the condensation is turning into codswallop.This is why some engine manufacturers recommend that carburetor heat be applied when the throttle is retarded for prolonged descent and prior to landing (Gleim, 2003). slash summaries contain many cases of unexplained power loss. galore(postnominal) of these aircraft accidents can be attri moreovered to carburetor deoxyephedrine. Once carburetor ice is suspected at the first sign of engine roughness Aircraft Icing or power loss- apply full carburetor heat (Gleim, 2003). After carburetor heat is applied the engine may run rougher as the ice melts away but the rpm wil l return to their normal setting. on that point are many cases of loss of engine power as a result of carburetor icing which forces a landing. The following accident report epitome describes a similar carburetor icing spatial relation A 106-hour Skyhawk pilot reported that the engine began to run rough and lost power as the carpenters plane climbed by dint of 9,000 feet means sea level (MSL). She then switched fuel tanks and moved the mixture to full rich, but the engine continued to lose power. Carburetor heat was not used at any time. A forced landing was subsequently do in a field, where the airplane collided with a utility pole and landed in a ditch.An examination of the engine revealed no evidence of mechanical failure or malfunction. An icing probability chart revealed that the reported weather conditions in the area were favorable for the formation of accommodate carburetor icing at cruise power. The Cessna 172M owners manual notes that a gradual loss in rpm and eventu al engine roughness may result from the formation of carburetor ice and prescribes the use of carburetor heat to clear the ice. (Civil Aviation Authority, 2006). Structural IcingThe previous report refers to induction icing within the engine, but other forms of icing attach to the exterior of the aircraft called structural icing. Airframe or structural icing refers to the accumulation of ice on the exterior of the aircraft during flight through Aircraft Icing clouds or liquid precipitation when the skin temperature of the aircraft is equal to, or less than 0 deg C (Lester, 2004). Types of Structural Icing Structural icing takes on many forms depending on the size of the moisture that comes in contact with the aircraft.The types of structural ice are clear, rime and a combination of the two. The primary concern over even the slightest sum of structural ice is the loss of aerodynamic efficiency. The increase in drag caused by the additional ice also causes an increase in stall speed, instableness and a decrease in lift (Roy, K. S, 2008). The type of ice that forms on the aircraft primarily depends on the size of the water droplets. Clear ice forms when the drops are coarse and the droplets impacting an airplane freeze slowly, spreading over the aircraft components gradually forming a smooth sheet of solid ice (Lester, 2004).Clear ice is the most dangerous form of structural icing because it is sedate and hard it adheres potently to the aircraft surface greatly disrupting airflow. Clear ice will normally form while flying through cumuliform clouds and through freezing rain (Lester, 2004). Rime ice is the most common icing type and forms while flying through stratified clouds and freezing drizzle (Lester, 2004). It forms when water droplets freeze on impact, detain air between the small frozen drops, giving the ice a milky white appearance. change integrity ice has characteristics of both types making it a combination of rime and clear ice. Aircraft Icing The following NTSB summary describes the dangers of inadvertently encountering ice and the effect it will make believe on the ability of the aircraft to maintain lift and stability CE 182. One serious and one minor injury. Pilot received a weather apprize approximately one hour prior to flight during which A chance of light icing was forecast. nearly 30 minutes after takeoff, while at 6,000 feet, a small amount of ice began to form on the strut in the light rain.Although the aircraft was then unclutter to climb above the cloud layer, heavy icing began to accumulate. The aircraft could not climb above 7,300 MSL and a 300 400 feet per minutes (f. p. m). descent developed. The aircraft was cleared to an alternate airport via radar vectors. Over the runway at about 50 feet above ground level (AGL), the aircraft uncontrollably veered to the left and struck the ground hard, collapsing the nose gear. A witness stated that on that point was ? inch of ice on the fuselage and an inch on th e belly. The aircraft was also loaded approximately 200 pounds over gross weight.NTSB cited the probable causes as icing, improper weather evaluation, and deteriorated aircraft performance. (Watson, 2007) Pilots need to avoid ice especially if their aircraft are not okay for flight into icing. The aircraft in the NTSB report summary above was not approved for flight into icing conditions. Although ice forecast retrieved via weather briefings are in some cases inaccurate the pilot of necessity to have an escape route should icing be encountered. Accident data as reported by the NTSB is most useful when it brings about the development of technologies that help reduce icing-related aviation accidents.Aircraft fall into two categories, those approved for flight into icing and those that are not. Aircraft equipped with ice protection ashes allow them to keep ice from accumulating Aircraft Icing on the wing structures while in flight. The evolution of aircraft has provided advanced and useful technologies that have made our aircraft safer in less favorable atmospheric conditions. Icing protection arrangings The types of icing protection systems are pneumatic deicing boots, thermal devices, and electro-mechanical systems (Burrows, 2002).The pneumatic deicing boot is a rubber tube attached to the leading edge of an aircraft wing. When ice is encountered during flight, portions of the rubber device inflate breaking off the ice (Burrows, 2002). Pneumatic deicing boots are used on propeller driven aircraft and jets. Thermal systems use electricity to heat protected surfaces of equipped aircraft. Thermal deicing systems have a more advanced function than deicing boots in that it prevents ice from forming on the heated protected surfaces. The electric heaters can be used as de-icers or anti-icers (Burrows, 2002).The newest technological advance in de-icing is called electromechanical de-icing, the system use a type of mechanical actuator that physically knocks the accu mulated ice off the flight surfaces. The applied science works in conjunction with previously developed ice honorion systems and is triggered automatically once sensors detect ice. First, an electro-thermal strip heats the wings leading edge to just above freezing, melting the ice. Then other electro-thermal systems heat the leading edge enough to evaporate moisture on contact, preventing it from escaping and refreezing elsewhere as runback ice.The water flows downstream and eventually freezes where Aircraft Icing the aircraft is less sensitive to airflow disruptions. Thats where the deicers hit it. An electrical up-to-the-minute is sent through one set of coils at a time, and as the current loops through the coil, it flows in one direction and then the opposite, inducing a magnetic field. Jolted with electrical energy pulses that death . 0005 second, the coils deliver impact accelerations of over 10,000 Gs to the airfoil skin once a minute, shedding ice as thin as . 06 inch.De spite the high G-load, the impact amplitudethe amount of movement of the aircraft skinis however about . 025 inch. The skin accelerates so rapidly, though, that ice de-bonds as if hit with a hammer (Smithsonian Air and Space). closing Ice and aircrafts are a dangerous combination when pilots dont utilize weather run to determine freezing levels. When a pilot doesnt understand when to deploy his ice protection system or doesnt do a proper preflight including weather briefings, icing encounters become a reality. Many fatalities a year could be prevented if pilots use available resources to avoid icing dangers.