"ArtP" wrote in message
...
On 28 Jan 2004 06:46:28 -0800, (Andrew
Sarangan) wrote:


Unless your plane is certified for known icing then airmet or not any
icing potential means you can't legally fly. Arguing over moderate
versus light is academic since either is prohibitive..

But what if the airplane were certified for known ice? Would it not
matter then?

Many people claim that the only function of certified deice equipment
in a small GA aircraft is to give you time to get out of that
condition. If you look at the definition of light and moderate icing,
a certified system should be able to handle them. It is also my
understanding that the level of icing encountered is more complicated
than a linear relationship to temperature so that temperatures near
freezing don't necessarily imply less accumulation than lower
temperatures.

I see this all the time too but I don't really buy off on it. I don't hear
of known-ice piston 135 charter and freight flights not making their
destinations becasue of ice. I think that if you have a known ice airplane
and everything is in proper working order, you should be capable of flying
in 99% of icing. This doesn't mean that there won't be tense moments and
obviously having more performance is better but I don't see why any known
ice airplane isn't adequate to the job.

Mike
MU-2