Paul Folbrecht wrote:

Maybe, but I really doubt it unless my problem resulted in an accident
or maybe a "deal" for the controller if I had to make a descent that
they couldn't clear quickly enough. Even though I've flown in
northeast winters for 28 years and tend to "take a look" even if icing
is a possibility, I've only once ever gotten into anything I'd call
trouble. Even then, I didn't need to declare, I just needed a block
altitude clearance so I could descend until I could maintain altitude.
Fortunately, I reached the equilibrium altitude prior to reaching
ground elevation. :-)


So what you're saying is that you're lucky to be alive.

In that case, yes, luck played a role. But I was also starting out at a
very high altitude (11,000', which was 2,000 feet above where any icing
was forecast) and flying away from the icing conditions (Lake Erie) with
a 60K tailwind, so I did have many things in my favor. Hitting ice that
high certainly wasn't expected though or I would have deviated farther
south of the Lake.

Matt