Protection Against Icing: a Comprehensive Overview
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FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION JUNE–SEPTEMBER 1997 FLIGHT SAFETY DIGEST SPECIAL ISSUE Protection Against Icing: A Comprehensive Overview Report An Urgent Safety FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION For Everyone Concerned Flight Safety Digest With the Safety of Flight Vol. 16 No. 6/7/8/9 June–September 1997 Officers/Staff In This Issue Protection Against Icing: A Comprehensive Stuart Matthews Chairman, President and CEO Overview Board of Governors An Urgent Safety Report James S. Waugh Jr. The laws of aerodynamics, which make flight possible, can Treasurer be subverted in moments by a build-up of ice that in some Carl Vogt situations is barely visible. During icing conditions, ground General Counsel and Secretary deicing and anti-icing procedures become an essential Board of Governors element in safe operations. Moreover, in-flight icing issues continue to be made more complex by a growing body of ADMINISTRATIVE new knowledge, including refinements in our understanding Nancy Richards of aerodynamics and weather. Executive Secretary This unprecedented multi-issue Flight Safety Digest brings Ellen Plaugher together a variety of informational and regulatory documents Executive Support–Corporate Services from U.S. and European sources. Collectively, they offer an overview of the knowledge concerning icing-related accident FINANCIAL prevention. Brigette Adkins Documents included in this special report are from such Controller widely divergent sources as the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Association of European Airlines TECHNICAL (AEA), the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Robert H. Vandel European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and the Air Line Director of Technical Projects Pilots Association, International (ALPA). In addition, pertinent articles from FSF publications have MEMBERSHIP been reprinted here. Steven Jones The contents are organized into discrete sections, including: Director of Membership and Development • Deicing/Anti-icing industry update and operational Ahlam Wahdan principles; Assistant to the Director of Membership • A table and summaries of icing-related commercial and Development aviation accidents for the years 1946–1996, compiled David A. Grzelecki by the FSF editorial staff from various sources; Librarian • Ground deicing and anti-icing; Jerry Lederer Aviation Safety Library • In-flight icing; and, PUBLICATIONS • Important resources. Roger Rozelle Published at the onset of the icing season in the northern Director of Publications hemisphere, this issue of Flight Safety Digest deserves close reading by pilots, operations managers, ground crews Rick Darby and dispatchers. It represents another of FSF’s contributions Senior Editor to the widest possible distribution of knowledge to enhance Douglas Greenwood aviation safety. Senior Editor Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is an international membership Todd Lofton organization dedicated to the continuous improvement of flight safety. Editorial Consultant Nonprofit and independent, FSF was launched in 1945 in response to Karen K. Ehrlich the aviation industry’s need for a neutral clearinghouse to disseminate Production Coordinator objective safety information, and for a credible and knowledgeable Ann L. Mullikin body that would identify threats to safety, analyze the problems and Assistant Production Coordinator recommend practical solutions to them. Since its beginning, the Foundation has acted in the public interest to produce positive influence on aviation safety. Today, the Foundation provides leadership to more Jerome Lederer than 660 member organizations in 77 countries. President/Emeritus Table of Contents Foreword ............................................................................................................................................ iii Deicing/Anti-icing Industry Update and Operational Principles John Posta, Delta Air Lines ............................................................................................................ 1 Accident Summaries Icing-related Commercial Aviation Accidents, 1946–1996 (Table 1) ........................................ 6 Icing-related Commercial Aviation Accidents, 1946–1996 (Summaries) ................................ 12 Ground Deicing and Anti-icing Manual of Aircraft Ground De/Anti-Icing Operations International Civil Aviation Organization ............................................................................. 38 Ground Deicing and Anti-icing Program U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (AC 120-60) ............................................................... 55 Pilot Guide: Large Aircraft Ground Deicing U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (AC 120-58) ............................................................. 70 Pilot Guide: Small Aircraft Ground Deicing U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (AC 135-17) ............................................................. 85 Temporary Guidance Leaflet No. 4 Joint Aviation Authorities ..................................................................................................... 104 Recommendations for De-Icing/Anti-Icing of Aircraft on the Ground Association of European Airlines ......................................................................................... 110 Small Airline Continues to Win Big Battle Against Aircraft Ground Icing ............................. 134 ICEMAN: State-of-the-art Ground Deicing/Anti-icing Training on CD-ROM ....................... 151 In-flight Icing Inflight Icing: Certification vs. Reality … Where the Difference Can Mean Life or Death Jan W. Steenblik, Technical Editor, Air Line Pilots Association .......................................... 154 Effect of Icing on Aircraft Control and Airplane Deice and Anti-ice Systems U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (AC 91-51A) ............................................................. 161 FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION • FLIGHT SAFETY DIGEST • JUNE–SEPTEMBER 1997 i Pilots Can Minimize the Likelihood of Aircraft Roll Upset in Severe Icing John P. Dow Sr., U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ....................................................... 168 Tailplane Icing and Aircraft Performance Degradation Porter J. Perkins, Sverdrup Technology Inc., and William J. Rieke, NASA Lewis Research Center ................................................................................................................................... 177 In-flight Icing Operations and Training Recommendations U.S. Federal Aviation Administration .................................................................................. 183 Inflight Aircraft Icing Plan U.S. Federal Aviation Administration .................................................................................. 185 Important Resources AV-DATA 2000: Complete U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations and Associated Resources on CD-ROM ..................................................................................... 200 U.S. Icing-related Regulations and Advisory Materials: Results of an AV-DATA 2000 Search ............................................................................................... 201 Further Reading from FSF Publications ................................................................................... 236 Membership Application Form ................................................................................................. 239 ii FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION • FLIGHT SAFETY DIGEST • JUNE–SEPTEMBER 1997 Foreword “Strange as it may seem, a very light coating of snow or ice, light enough to be hardly visible, will have a tremendous effect on reducing the performance of a modern airplane.” These words are as true today as they were 58 years ago when Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) founder Jerome “Jerry” F. Lederer said them during a lecture on aviation safety. And despite new technology, training and procedures developed since then to address the problem, accidents related to icing conditions continue to occur. This multi-issue Flight Safety Digest brings together a variety of major informational and regulatory documents issued by U.S. and European aviation authorities on the subject of icing-related accident prevention. In the past 50 years, as shown by the table beginning on page 6 and accident summaries beginning on page 12, ice has played a role in numerous accidents that have killed crews and passengers and destroyed aircraft. The editorial staff gathered these data from diverse sources to create a single comprehensive record of the losses from icing- related accidents. Without any need for rhetoric, the table and summaries show, through statistics and factual narrative, the grim results of icing-related accidents. No phase of operations is immune to the threat. Recent U.S. examples of icing encounters with fatal consequences include the following: • A commuter flight impacted terrain during landing in December 1989, in Pasco, Washington, U.S., killing both crew members and all four passengers. The aircraft had been in icing conditions for about 10 minutes on approach; • An air transport stalled on takeoff in March 1992, in Flushing, New York, U.S., killing two crew members and 25 passengers; 24 persons survived. The aircraft had been deiced twice before leaving the gate; and, • A commuter flight went out of control in icing conditions and dived into a soybean field en route to Chicago, Illinois, U.S., in October 1994, killing all 68 aboard. Icing-related accidents have captured the aviation industry’s attention, and it is now widely understood that the problem is international,