Severe clear ice. Thank you Kansas city

Yikes. I've had some moderately frightening ice encounters, but nothing even remotely like that. Good job getting it on the ground. :beer:

As an aside, I'm normally a defender of maligned airplanes, but not having flown one, is a 208 as bad as they say in ice, or was this just a case of bad luck/wrong place wrong time?
 
Boris Badenov said:
As an aside, I'm normally a defender of maligned airplanes, but not having flown one, is a 208 as bad as they say in ice, or was this just a case of bad luck/wrong place wrong time?
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It can be.

Mind your minimum airspeeds and maximum icing weights, get the separator open and you need a few backup plans before you depart just in case.

The icing predictor on aviationweather.gov is pretty good. Fairly accurate, AFAICR. That product was the first part of a "normal" preflight for a night in the van for me.

-mini
 
Boris Badenov said:
As an aside, I'm normally a defender of maligned airplanes, but not having flown one, is a 208 as bad as they say in ice, or was this just a case of bad luck/wrong place wrong time?
Click to expand...

minitour said:
It can be.

Mind your minimum airspeeds and maximum icing weights, get the separator open and you need a few backup plans before you depart just in case.

The icing predictor on aviationweather.gov is pretty good. Fairly accurate, AFAICR. That product was the first part of a "normal" preflight for a night in the van for me.

-mini
Click to expand...

What mini said. That and keep the prop heat on and keep blowing the boots, keep your speed up and you'll be fine.

BajtheJino said:
No. Its like any other plane out there. You get enough of It, It will ruin your day.
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:yeahthat:
 
I will write a detailed report on here and include a couple pics. I have some but they are not very good. I took them from my iPhone. I have a few from when the ice started and a couple more from when I landed.

The reason I asked for higher is on climb out I noticed there was no inversion layer and I thought I could maybe get to much colder air or find an inversion higher. I started the climb as soon as I hit the ice. I wanted to have all the altitude I could get incase I did get to heavy. That extra 500 feet saved me from landing in a feild in the end.

To spira, yeah the first thought was "it's my first week solo!" followed by a lot of explitives. Also getting on with center every 5 mins. Finally center told everyone to stand by and gave me priority when I declaired an emergency. After I got on the ground I was able to still talk to center and tell them I was on the ground safe so no emergency paperwork. I wish there was a way to listen to my transmissions.
 
I glad everything worked out for you and you were able to fly another day.:clap:
 
this is my detailed report. I'll be putting a couple pics up tomarrow.

This is the report as to why (insert flight number) diverted to KGAG airport on the 19th of March 2010. I, Insert name, was the pilot in command on flight 000 with N12345 and had 1400lbs of fuel on board. At 1640 I checked the weather report via www.aviationweather.gov for a standard briefing along my route of flight. The route was out of KGUY direct to KWDG and then after a brief stop, onto KTUL. At 1720 I called 1-800-WX-BRIEF to get a briefing on icing conditions and any hazardous weather along my route of flight. The briefer stated that there was light rime ice from a pilot report over Liberal, KS. I asked him if there were any other reports along the said route, and no reports were issued. At 1745 I checked the weather via www.aviationweather.gov yet again for any adverse weather, icing conditions and PIREPS. At this time there were no reports of any ice along the route of flight. At 1815 I called dispatch to let them know I was on duty. At 1826 the UPS driver arrived at the airport and dropped off 31lbs freight. At 1832 I lifted off KGUY en route to KWDG with stall heat and pitot heat on. On climb out passing through the first layer of clouds (1100 AGL) I reported to Kansas City center light rime ice was observed. After entering cruise flight at 7000 ft MSL I noticed I was between layers of clouds but would be entering IMC soon. I turned on the windshield anti-ice, prop anti-ice as well as pulling out the inertial seperator and turning on the ignition. I entered the clouds very quickly and reported to Kansas City center I was picking up moderate clear ice. I made use of the boots on the C-208 to break off the clear ice. After just 5 minutes I had asked Kansas City center for a higher altitude. I was told to maintain a block altitude from 7000 MSL to 11000 MSL. I stated my climb but noticed the aircraft would only climb 200 FPM at 120 knots. I reached 7500 MSL and could no longer climb. The aircraft could hold altitude at max power and 120 KIAS for a short time. After approximately 10 minutes the aircraft started to buffet at 120 KIAS and I reported severe clear ice. I pitched the aircraft nose down to keep from a stall. I notified Kansas City center that I would not be able to maintain my block altitude assignment and would need lower. I was given a block from 4500 MSL to 7000 MSL. As time progressed I continued using the boots on the airplane as well as trying to find VFR weather conditions. At 4000 MSL I had declared an emergency with Kansas City center, as I would no longer be able to hold altitude. The aircraft at this time was at max power and stalling at 120 KIAS. I was diverted to 1X1 to shoot the VOR DME approach. After center had told me I had to cross GAG VOR at 4000 MSL I replied I couldn't maintain altitude and I would not make it to 1X1. I was told from my last known heading there was KGAG at 3 o'clock and 5 miles. I broke out of the clouds at 500 AGL and quickly started a steep turn to look for a field to land in, only being able to view from where the hot plate was. Kansas City center picked me up again and told me the KGAG airport was 1 o'clock and 4 miles. I asked Kansas City center for the frequency to turn on the landing lights. At this time another pilot flying out of the conditions turned the lights on for me. I would not make it to the N and S runway. I had again full power to maintain 125 KIAS and a 200 FPM decent. I landed on a closed runway at KGAG stalling the aircraft 10 feet above the field with max power at 120 KIAS and applied max braking and max reverse to stop the airplane. I contacted Kansas City center on the ground at KGAG to inform them I had safely landed at KGAG.
 
Wow, the letter sounds even hairier, if that's possible. Good work, but I'd assume I'd used up 8 of those lives! It's Miller Time, dude.

PS. Was it another freight doggie who hit the lights for you? Think I might buy that guy a beer.
 
Just an FYI, you can request a copy of the audio recording under FOIA. Include the date and time range (in Zulu) and explain you were the pic and would like it for teaching/educational purposes.

Tapes are maintained for 30 days so don't delay if that is something you'd like to do.

I am glad you made it down safely. I was monitoring an icing emergency on Sat evening and it scared the crap out of me - I can't even imagine what the flight crew was feeling.
 
Wow that is quite the experience, thanks for the write up. When you originally said you broke out of the clouds at 500ft I figured you meant on an approach. The fact that you were just descending and hoping to see a field gives the whole situation a new degree of seriousness. You were fortunate that this occurred over OK and not more rugged or obstacle-covered terrain.

Did already or do you intend to file a NASA report? It sounds like you did everything right both before and during this flight and it was the forecasts that let you down. Stuff like this can be important because they can look back at what the conditions were like at that time and use it to adjust their forecast models.

I would be curious to see what the CIP/FIP tool on the Aviation Weather Center website showed and if it predicted an SLD threat. I have always found it to be pretty reliable. Do you happen to remember if you checked it?
 
Wow. Thanks for sharing the story. Sounds like you handled the situation like a true professional and got the appropriate result. Kudos!

(and, phew!, glad you're okay)
 
+1 on the NASA report. Glad you are still with us, I have never seen 4 inches of ice. I looked up the runway on google earth, looks worse than landing in a field. Thanks for the write up.
 
Was Aviationweather.gov showing and SLD thread along your route of flight?

Great job on getting down!
 
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