ATR Cold Weather Operations
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ATR CUSTOMER SERVICES COLD WEATHER OPERATIONS BE PREPARED FOR ICING Important notice This brochure is intended to provide general information regarding flying in icing conditions. In no case it is intended to replace the operational and flight manuals for ATR aircraft. In all events, the procedures describe in the Aircraft Flight Manual shall prevail over the information contained in this document. Printed on 100% recycled paper using vegetable inks Cold weather operations All efforts have been made to ensure the quality of the present document. However do not hesitate to inform ATR Flight Operations support of your comments at the following address: [email protected] The Flight Operations Support team Introduction Icing is an adverse atmospheric phenomenon, and Introduction remains very harmful to air transport. Flying in icing conditions is considered a serious threat, and concerns every airline all around the world. Operating in hot countries, does not prevent one from encountering icing conditions in flight: 30°C at sea level means 0°C at FL150. Due to prevailing atmospheric conditions at their operating flight levels, turboprop aircraft fly where icing conditions are most likely to occur. Flight crews must always be prepared to face icing, as this leads to uncomfortable flight characteristics, like speed and/or rate of climb losses. Cold Weather Operations brochure is intended to provide ATR operators with a thorough understanding of ATR aircraft operations in Cold Weather conditions, and develops such aspects as: Q Meteorological icing phenomena Q Systems available to prevent and control ice accumulation, including the Aircraft Performance Monitoring (APM) system. This system embodies low speed warning devices enhancing crew awareness, in case of severe icing encounters. Q Performance loss due to ice contamination on aircraft’s aerodynamic surface Q On ground and in-flight applicable procedures when facing icing conditions. This current release of Cold Weather Operations brochure includes at the end a Quizz to evaluate good practices and aeronautical decision making, when having to deal with icing conditions in flight. Introduction 3 Cold weather operations Introduction. 3 Chapter A – Weather revision on Icing . 6 A.1. What is icing?. 7 A.2. Build-up process . 7 A.2.1. Supercooled water droplets. 7 A.2.2. Freezing of liquid water . 7 A.2.3. Condensation from vapor to ice. 7 A.2.4. Types of accretion. 7 A.2.5. Factors affecting the severity of icing . 11 A.3. Icing classification. 12 A.3.1. Quantitative classification. 12 A.3.2. Severity of ice . 13 A.4. Some typical clouds. 14 Chapter B – Weather documentation . 15 B.1. Available means . 16 B.2. TAF/METAR/SPECI/TREND interpretation. 16 B.3. AIRMET/SIGMET. 17 B.4. Weather charts. 17 Chapter C – Aircraft de-/anti-icing . 19 C.1. Some questions to answer before de-icing. 20 C.2. Basics. 20 C.2.1. Definitions. 20 C.2.2. Equipment and material. 21 C.2.3. Fluid selection . 21 C.3. De-icing and anti-icing procedures. 23 C.3.1. Aircraft preparation . 23 C.3.2. Procedures . 23 C.3.3. Hotel mode. 24 C.4. Fluid residues . 24 C.5. Captain’s decision. ..