Icing tape - lessons learned.

On 2007-02-07, BDS wrote:
I didn't listen to the tape but the descriptions that mentioned a sudden out
of control dive sure sound like a tailplane stall to me. It can take a
tremendous amount of force on the yoke to recover, and recovery technique is
not intuitive because it is not the same as the technique(s) used for a
normal wing stall.

Other nasty things can happen in icing too. You may remember the
incident with the ATR in Roselawn, Indiana (which has a substantially
similar airfoil to a Caravan, I'd imagine). Ice built up behind the
area behind the deicing boots in a ridge. The aircraft was on autopilot.
When the autopilot disconnected, the ailerons underwent a "hinge moment
reversal" - so instead of wanting to remain neutral, snapped to full
control deflection very suddenly. The plane went inverted, and the crew
split-S'd out of it. Unfortunately, the aircraft disintegrated during
the split S from the G forces.

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I think the lesson is stay aware of icing conditions, and if you must
absolutely fly in/near icing conditions - you better put the airframe
into the instrument scan.

Icing cannot be ignored, but that is precisely what this thread has
hypothesized.

First, the Caravan was flying in an area near icing. Strike One.

Second, this thread has hypothesized that the pilot failed to use
pitot heat, boots, and/or let the autopilot fly the plane into the
stall. Strikes 2,3,4.

Avoiding any one of these items likely would have precluded the
incident.