Denny wrote:

When you fly in a Great Lakes icer that is layering an inch a minute of
impact ice on the airframe, I don't care what you are flying, you are
gonna die...

It depends on how many minutes you stay there. I got into ice on the
lee side of Lake Erie several years ago in my Skylane. I picked up 1-2"
of ice in less than 5 minutes, but luckily a descent got be into lighter
icing and I was able to continue on to Elmira.

Shedding the ice on the approach was really interesting. I thought I'd
lost the tail after the windshield shed its load all at once. However,
post-flight inspection showed no damage of note.

I'm amazed at how much ice a Skylane will carry and still fly. I was at
full throttle (with the carb heat on as the intake iced over almost
instantly), flying at the top of the white arc and descending at 200
FPM, but the old girl flew fine and carried the ice for nearly an hour
until I descended into the warmer air on the approach.


Matt