Aircraft Icing Handbook

Aircraft Icing Handbook Civil Aviation Authority Version 1 Aircraft Icing Handbook This GAP handbook was published by the Civil Aviation Authority in 2000. Copies can be purchased from Tel: 0800 GET RULES (0800 438 785). It is also available free on the CAA web site www.caa.govt Copies of other GAP booklets can be obtained from: Safety Education and Publishing Unit Civil Aviation Authority P O Box 31 441 Lower Hutt New Zealand Tel: 0–4–560 9400 Fax: 0–4–569 2024 Civil Aviation Authority Version 1 Aircraft Icing Handbook FOREWORD “Strange as it may seem, a very light coating of snow or ice, light enough to be hardly visible, will have a tremendous effect on reducing the performance of a modem aeroplane.” These words are as true today as they were 58 years ago when Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) founder Jerome “Jerry” F. Lederer said them during a lecture on aviation safety. And despite new technology, training and procedures developed since then to address the problem, accidents related to icing conditions continue to occur. This Handbook brings together a variety of major informational and regulatory documents issued by international authorities on the subject of icing-related accident prevention. In the past 50 years, ice has played a role in numerous accidents that have killed crews and passengers and destroyed aircraft. No phase of operations is immune to the threat. Recent U.S. and New Zealand examples of icing encounters with fatal consequences include the following: (a) New Zealand Cessna Caravan crashed off the coast of the New Zealand South Island in November 1987 killing both occupants. The pilot had reported icing. (b) A commuter flight impacted terrain during landing in December 1989, in Pasco, Washington, U.S., killing both crewmembers and all four passengers. The aircraft had been in icing conditions for about 10