"tscottme" writes:
wrote

at least by this pilot anyway :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZTfTT-EiF8

Yikes, that's some heavy rain. Thanks for posting it. I remember one time
departing FLL with a heavy shower off the departure end. The C-172 (and
some other single Cessnas) have the air filter in the front cowl under the
prop. When we got into the heavy rain it saturated the air filter and we
lost some power. After a second I guessed what was happening and aplied
carb heat, to take advantage of the indirect air flow bypassing the air
filter, and power came back, minus the small carb heat penalty. The CFII
beside me, not an A&P like me, closed the carb heat because it robs power
and the engine once again started breathign through the soaked filter. I
re-applied the carb heat and kept my hand on the the knob while telling the
CFI "soaked air filter, leave on the carb heat." A minute later we had
cleared the shower and went back to normal ops. It's the only time I've had
any engine trouble and it sure gets your attention.

Oh yeah, make sure you don't use a paper air filter in single Cessnas. I
think an AD prevents using paper filters any more. The single Pipers don't
have this problem because of the configuration for induction airflow.

Mooney Super 21's have an air filter bypass that's supposed to
give a slight power boost at altitude. However, using the bypass
in certain meteorlogical conditions can result in injector icing
and has led to fatalities.