If there was 1/4" to 3/8" ice on my airplane, a plugged pitot tube is not my
only problem.

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Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict....



I'll vote "very necessary." Once at the Naval Nuclear Power Preparatory
School, in North Chicago, there was ice on my windshield so thick I
broke the tip off my Herter's sheath knife trying to get it off the
windshield of my car. About 1/4" to 3/8" thick. And that was during the
day in VFR conditions.

John Lowry
Flight Physics