ASCI 202 Blog 9-2: Weather Hazards

 Hello Class, 

For this final blog, I want to bring attention to what I believe has been the most dangerous aspect of aviation weather. Although not as common as many other hazards like thunderstorms and fog, I have experienced icing incidents that scared me greatly. It should be noted that I was not in the aircarft during these times but in the control tower. Many weather hazards pose risk but in an area like Alaska, icing was the most dangerous in my opinion.

For a brief overview, there are three types of icing: clear, rime, and mixed. Clear icing is heavy, smooth, clear, and forms from large supercooled water droplets landing on the surface of aircarft. Rime icing is white in color, rough, and is formed from smaller water droplets impacting the surfaces of the aircraft. Rime icing can also form "Horns" on the leading edges of wings causing increased drag and disrupts lift. Mixed icing is simply the combination of large and small supercooled droplets impacting the aircarft. Pilots will experience icing when flying between a low cold air mass and high warm air mass. The marriage of these two air masses mixed with moisture cause icing. 

Icing effects air flow and weight which impacts lift greatly. It can disrupt sensors, pitot tubes, and visibility. The reason I chose icing for this blog is because of the quickness and speed that this hazard can occur. Fog, rain, and thunderstorms are big hazards as well, but did not seem to pose a critical threat in the moment. These examples are from the internal feelings I felt as an air traffic controller talking to pilots experiencing icing.

Image Retrieved from https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/courses/atsc113/flying/met_concepts/03-met_concepts/03g-Icing/images-03g/lift-and-drag.png


Alaska is cold and I am sure people image there is ice and snow. When a thunderstorm or fog rolled in, aircraft and pilots usually stayed away or canceled the flight. But what happens when the sky is clear, temperature is right at freezing at ground level and one did not expect to confront a major ice event. 

A young 16 year old was flying from central Alaska to Anchorage on a Costco shopping trip for his mom. The day was cold but clear and upon his final turn to land he lost all visibility and reported the airplane was heavy and did not seem to want to climb. His aircarft and windshield was instantly covered in clear ice, losing sight of all surrounding and runway. His sensors stopped working but he was able to determine which way was up and which way was down. ATC instructed him to climb and as he did, the ice burned off and he could see again. He attempted another approach and the same thing happened. After holding at 2000 feet AGL and discussing options with ATC, he reported low fuel with about 15 minutes left. After a few more attempts, he was able to come in and land with just enough fuel to taxi to parking.

Image Retrieved from https://www.aopa.org/-/media/Images/AOPA-Main/News-and-Media/Publications/Flight-Training-Magazine/1705f/1705f_ak_1/1705f_ak_1_16x9.jpg


There have been other incidents like this with F-22's, King-Airs, and Cargo planes. Heavier aircarft have clipped the tops of trees inbound and outbound and icing was a contributing factor in the investigation. The element of icing on the aircarft is a major hazard because its effects can be quick, dangerous, unpredictable to a degree, and for lack of a better term, sneaky. As for ATC and the young 16 year old that day, lessons learned involved preflight weather check and conditions via an approved source and alternate landing and fuel planning procedures. 

Image Retreived from https://i.redd.it/vmtvfcfxfju31.png

Luke

Word Count: 537

References

Weather.gov. (n.d.). Icing hazards. Retrieved on September 2, 2021 from https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_Training_Page/icing_stuff/icing/icing.htm

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