flying in snow

"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...
In a typical spam can (say an archer), which has no deice at all (save
pitot
heat), is it safe to fly in snow?

It can be, yes. However, all of the usual caveats about flying in visible
moisture with freezing conditions apply.

Typically, in a cloud or not, you'll just get a light accumulation of snow
on forward surfaces of the airplane: leading edge of the wing, front of
tires (for fixed-gear airplanes), temperature probe, etc.

However, a heavy wet snow could result in significant rime ice accumulation,
and any kind of snow has the potential for blocking the air filter. It's
important to have all of the usual precautions that you'd have in any sort
of freezing/precip conditions, including a well-thought-out escape plan.

I can't think of any situation where precipitation that's freezing rain
aloft would show up as snow on the ground, but I think it would be unwise to
rule that possibility out. Weather does funny things some times.

Generally speaking though, when you see snow, things are cold enough that
all you'll get is plain old snow, and it will be too cold for it to produce
any significant accumulation.

Pete