I'm currently inactive also....
Same thing happened to me about the same time same place almost same
airplane! I had a M20-E (super). I don't think we had all the training and
information that's available today. Much had to be learned by doing.
I recall one night leaving Boston on a snowy night around 11 PM. I got a
weather brief from the FSS and filed.. They told me there was an inversion
with altitude. After taking off I felt uncomfortable with the snow because
of the St. Elmo's effect. I saw the glowing arc from the propeller and the
arcing on the windshield so I requested and got another higher
altitude(7000) from Boston center. This put me into solid cloud cover with
34 deg OAT. After 5 minuets or so I noticed my airspeed slowing. I looked at
the wings with my flashlight and saw ice building. I then requested a higher
altitude (9000). This didn't change the temperature. It only made matters
worse. I heard a howling noise and a bang. My ADF antenna broke off. I
looked again at the wing and saw ice "horns" about 3 inches long building on
my nav lights. I then requested a higher altitude (11000) and applied full
power to start a climb. I couldn't get any higher than 9500 ft or so. Not
knowing what else to do I pushed the prop control into a flat pitch to try
to bend the blades and break any ice off. This must have worked because I
heard some banging and my airspeed came up a little. I told Boston of my
problems and they cleared me to 13000. At that time an Eastern Capt. came
back to me and told me he was at 16000 picking up heavy ice. I told Boston I
can't fly anymore with full power I was descending 200 fpm. and need a
vector to the closest airport. They steered my to Hartford and I made one of
the quickest approaches in my life. I had to land crabbing looking out the
small open storm window on the pilot side because the windshield iced over..
I kept the IAS over 110 in case the ice would spoil the lift. Upon landing
the attendant directing me with his flashlight remarked "Whooeee where the
hell was I? I saw this in books but not in real life!" I had over 3 inches
of ice on the leading edges and the breather was fully blocked. The small
alternate air door automatically opened. I looked up at the sky and it was
perfectly clear. I went through the weather and didn't even notice. I think
in retrospect I should have stayed in the snow. I'm very grateful that I had
a Mooney. Not that It's better, it's just because it got me through it. The
rat at Hartford deiced my plane in their heated hanger and charged me $50
bucks! Since then I never fully believed the FSS I made damn sure I got at
least one pirep and I personally looked at the weather maps before leaving.
"john cop" wrote in message
om...
Have been inactive for many years.

About 20 years ago, when flying up from the south, I got suckered in.
The tops slowly rose untill I was flying at over 15,000 (Mooney 201)
near Cleveland, It was clear on top and the temp was in the mid 40s
on the ground, and the freezing level was high enough so I wasn't
worried.

When cleared for decent, ice formed at an incredible rate - must have
picked up over an inch of rime in seconds near the tops. Once below
the sun heated top layer, the accumulation virtually quit. Breaking
out below at about 4,000, the temp was already well above freezing,
but no ice was dissapearing.

While being vectored into the approach, I ran some test to make sure
the plane was behaving normally and was capable of climbing. On hind
site, I should have refused the approach clearance and waited for the
ice to fall off.

Anyhow, after having read accounts about people stalling on final and
etc., I brought her in about 20 knots fast over the numbers and
chopped everything. I damn near overran a 5,000 ft. runway - the
sucker didn't want to land.

Rime ice, I have since found, can lower the stall speed (raises the
dragg). It increases the leading edge of the wing. This was verified
by test I did for a senior project in a wind tunnel using an airfoil,
rubber cement, and sugar. The Reynolds number was way off for that
test, so it could be suspect. However, I had occassion to take to one
of the crew of the icing planes over at NASA who confirmed all this
and it sure would account for my landing problem above.

Anyhow, after parking the plane, ice was still falling off in big
chunks for 10 or 15 min.




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