An Icy Commute

Well this evening I had an interesting commute home. I flew into
freezing rain.
THe forecast called for a perfect day of flying. Light wind lots of
sunshine. It did not call for any precip today.
I was flying my usual evening controller busy route home. This would be
W32, FRZ exit waypoint, Stafford 3000 MSL ( to go around the Quanitco
restricted areas) then home to CJR. When I turned the corner at Stafford
I noticed something out of the corner of my eye when the strobes
flashed. I turned on the landing light and sure enough it was rain. A
quick check of the thermometer caused concern. It was reading 0 Celsius.
I pulled out the flashlight and had a look at the wings struts. Nothing
yet. I checked a few minutes later. ICE!. I immediately descending to
2000 MSL. The temp went up 1 degree Celsius. That was enough, the ice
stopped.
Once I landed and pulled up to the hangar I check the airframe. It still
had a little ice on it.

Now that was an interesting commute.
Michelle

Wow, glad you made it down OK. How far from your destination airport were
you (miles/minutes) when you first noticed the ice? Would you have had any
good options if it really had been accumulating?

--
Hello, my name is Mike, and I am an airplane addict...

"Michelle P" wrote in message
nk.net...
Well this evening I had an interesting commute home. I flew into
freezing rain.
snip
Now that was an interesting commute.
Michelle

Now that was an interesting commute.

Glad you made it okay. We've only run into icing once, and that was more
than enough.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Michael,
I was about 20 miles from home when I noticed the precip and about 15
when I started descending. Normally at this point I am dropped by ATC
since i am clear of the ADIZ. I opted to stay with them. I had several
airport around me to land and a couple behind me if necessary. The rain
was light so the ice was not accumulating too quickly. I was not
seriously worried yet, but I was getting there. I have been in a
situation where I accumulated an inch of ice on the airframe in 5
minutes during an approach. We went missed and made a slow painful climb
on top. It took about 45 minutes to get rid of that amount of ice.
Michelle

Michael Ware wrote:

Wow, glad you made it down OK. How far from your destination airport were
you (miles/minutes) when you first noticed the ice? Would you have had any
good options if it really had been accumulating?

In article et,
says...


Well this evening I had an interesting commute home. I flew into
freezing rain.
THe forecast called for a perfect day of flying. Light wind lots of
sunshine. It did not call for any precip today.
I was flying my usual evening controller busy route home. This would be
W32, FRZ exit waypoint, Stafford 3000 MSL ( to go around the Quanitco
restricted areas) then home to CJR. When I turned the corner at Stafford
I noticed something out of the corner of my eye when the strobes
flashed. I turned on the landing light and sure enough it was rain. A
quick check of the thermometer caused concern. It was reading 0 Celsius.
I pulled out the flashlight and had a look at the wings struts. Nothing
yet. I checked a few minutes later. ICE!. I immediately descending to
2000 MSL. The temp went up 1 degree Celsius. That was enough, the ice
stopped.
Once I landed and pulled up to the hangar I check the airframe. It still
had a little ice on it.

Now that was an interesting commute.
Michelle


Good story - good ending.
You're flying a C-152 or something, right?

GF

Hi Michelle,

THe forecast called for a perfect day of flying. Light wind lots of
sunshine. It did not call for any precip today.

Glad you're OK.

I live in your 'work' area, Nothern Virginia. You know what they
say... If you don't like the weather here in NOVA, just wait a minute.

I fly a Maule M-7-235. Lots of excess power. It name from Maule is the
Super Rocket.
Michelle

G Farris wrote:



Good story - good ending.
You're flying a C-152 or something, right?

GF

If you see a C-172 over you head during your commute there is a 33%
chance it is me flying.
Tune in 122.75 and listen in we are always talking to each other.
Michelle

Flyingmonk wrote:

Hi Michelle,



THe forecast called for a perfect day of flying. Light wind lots of
sunshine. It did not call for any precip today.



Glad you're OK.

I live in your 'work' area, Nothern Virginia. You know what they
say... If you don't like the weather here in NOVA, just wait a minute.

If I had a handheld I would :)

BTW What do you do? traffic report? Which station? Who is the
reporter? One of my helo instructor is the one that flies the Fox5
Chopper, Jerrami (Spell?).

I fly the plane form the right seat and we go clockwise around the
beltway. You can thank Walt Starling (RIP) for that. The reporter I
usually fly reports live on WTOP 8-10 and sometimes 15-17. If I fly the
early run 6-9 the reporter is live on WMAL.
Michelle

Flyingmonk wrote:

If I had a handheld I would :)

BTW What do you do? traffic report? Which station? Who is the
reporter? One of my helo instructor is the one that flies the Fox5
Chopper, Jerrami (Spell?).