Icing conditions

In article ,
Mxsmanic wrote:

Ron Garret writes:

Except for boots, the safest policy is to just turn it all on if there's
any possibility of ice.

Correction: TKS should also be used sparingly because the amount of
fluid is limited.

And how do I recognize a possibility of ice? Should I assume that any
time I enter a cloud?

Obviously not. It has to be cold too.

Is there a safe external temperature above
which ice is never an issue? Logically I'd assume that ice would form
at zero degrees Celsius, but I don't know what margin above that to
provide.

Yes you do. You stated it yourself when you first asked the question.

Once again I have to ask: you do this a lot (dropping the context of the
conversation). Why? Do you have some mental deficiency that prevents
you from remembering what you have said previously in a conversation?
Or do you do it intentionally? If so, why? I really want to know.

At the same time, I don't want to wear things out (even
though they never wear out in the sim) by running them when there's no
real chance of ice.

These things are ultimately judgement calls, and depend on the risk
profile you wish to adopt. Since you're flying a sim it's a moot point.
Pick a policy; one is as good as another.

If ice starts to collect on places like the wings, what's the first
thing I would notice in the way the aircraft behaves?

In my first icing encounter the first thing I noticed was that less air
was coming through the vent. I didn't realize I had ice for another few
minutes.

I do have a
light that shines on the wing so I can look at it, but I need to know
what the symptoms are of ice build-up as well.

That depends on your sim. I'd consult the manual.

rg

Ron Garret writes:

Obviously not. It has to be cold too.

Yes, but the leading edge of the wing might be colder than the cloud.
When water drops hit it, they solidify, then you have ice on the wing.

This is similar to the problem with cold-soaked wings on airliners
when they land at a warm and humid airport.

These things are ultimately judgement calls, and depend on the risk
profile you wish to adopt. Since you're flying a sim it's a moot point.
Pick a policy; one is as good as another.

Sims crash, too.

That depends on your sim. I'd consult the manual.

The manual doesn't describe symptoms.

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In article ,
Mxsmanic wrote:

Ron Garret writes:

Obviously not. It has to be cold too.

Yes, but the leading edge of the wing might be colder than the cloud.
When water drops hit it, they solidify, then you have ice on the wing.

Yes, that is possible. Nonetheless, it has to be cold. Exactly how
cold depends a lot on the particular circumstances. The first time I
had ice my OAT read 3C (which is why it took me by surprise). YMMV.

This is similar to the problem with cold-soaked wings on airliners
when they land at a warm and humid airport.

There is no such problem. (This is not to say that no ice forms under
such conditions, only that it is never a problem, especially not in an
airliner.)

These things are ultimately judgement calls, and depend on the risk
profile you wish to adopt. Since you're flying a sim it's a moot point.
Pick a policy; one is as good as another.

Sims crash, too.

Yes, especially when they run on Windows.

That depends on your sim. I'd consult the manual.

The manual doesn't describe symptoms.

Then I'd say you're screwed. It is unlikely in the extreme that your
sim has anything remotely approaching a realistic model of ice
formation. Absent documentation, the only way I can think of to figure
out what kind of crude hack it has it to reverse-engineer the code.

You did say you are a computer expert, right?

rg

Ron Garret wrote in
:

The manual doesn't describe symptoms.

Then I'd say you're screwed. It is unlikely in the extreme that your
sim has anything remotely approaching a realistic model of ice
formation. Absent documentation, the only way I can think of to figure
out what kind of crude hack it has it to reverse-engineer the code.

You did say you are a computer expert, right?

Perhaps he can send EMail to Bill Gates. If he is as persistent as he has
been here, I bet he'll even get a reply.

Judah writes:

Perhaps he can send EMail to Bill Gates. If he is as persistent as he has
been here, I bet he'll even get a reply.

Done.

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