MidlifeFlyer
Well-Known Member
It's a delineation that's been tried by pilots looking for an out, but I think you need to look at some of the NTSB cases dealing with known icing to see the results. Like the ones that say stuff like:Conditions are there for icing, but that's not known icing. It's a prediction that ice *might* be there, and depending on your aiframe, speed, altitude, blah blah blah, you have the possibility of having ice stick to your airframe. But until it does, it's not known that there is ice in there.
Again, I'm not saying it's not stupid, I'm just saying you're not making a delineation between forcasted and actual.
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The Board has long viewed the phrase "known icing conditions" to include predicted weather: "We do not construe the adjective 'known' to mean that there must be a near-certainty that icing will occur, such as might be established by pilot reports....Rather, we take the entire phrase to mean that icing conditions are being reported or forecast in reports which are known to a pilot or of which he should be reasonably aware."
-- Admin v. Boger (http://www.ntsb.gov/alj/alj/O_n_O/docs/aviation/4525.PDF)
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or this one where, although there was also some evidence of actual icing, the NTSB made it a point to say:
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Pilots are required to obtain all information pertinent to their flight – that is, be well prepared – and make reasoned decisions based on that information. Here, respondent knew that he would be flying into clouds that contained moisture, knew that the temperature on the ground at his destination was close to freezing, and knew that in the cloudy skies on the way to and above Payne Field the temperature would be colder. The risk of icing was clear.
--Admin v. Curtis (http://www.ntsb.gov/alj/alj/O_n_O/docs/aviation/5154.PDF)
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On the more positive side, though, I have heard that for various reasons, the FAA does not go after pilots unless there ends up being actual ice that causes an event.