Army Aircraft Icing
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4
CRREL/DCD-AVIATION ICING SURVEY
Purpose
The survey was designed to provide answers to the following questions:
Is icing a problem for aviation units?
To what extent does the severity of any icing problem reported by survey
respondents depend on
1) their geographic location
2) their facilities (amount of hangar space; deicing techniques
employed).
Are a significant number of flights cancelled as a result of either ground
or in-flight icing?
Are a significant number of flights disrupted (aborted, redirected, etc.) as
a result of unexpected in-flight icing?
Is there any indication that the accuracy of icing forecasts is limiting
winter aviation operations?
What increase in mission accomplishment might result from technology
innovations that reduce the time to deice an aircraft, that improve the
accuracy or resolution of icing forecasts, or that display in-flight icing
hazard warnings to pilots?
Survey results
A. Severity of icing impact on reporting aviation units.
1. Commanders' questionnaire.
Part A of the commanders' questionnaire elicits information on three
measures of icing impact. They are a) the time required to deice aircraft before
flight, b) aircraft damage due to deicing techniques, and c) the degree to which
forecasted icing conditions in the mission flight path affect mission accomplish-
ment. The questionnaire results are summarized in Tables 24; a compilation of
results by unit is given in Appendix D, which includes commanders' written
comments. Icing is considered to be a serious problem if at least 50% of the
commanders in a location cite its effect on mission accomplishment as moderate
or high.
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