Army Aircraft Icing
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of its Kiowa aircraft. The comments from Fort Drum do not specifically address
deicing damage, but rather the problems associated with aircraft left outside in
extremely cold weather: control surfaces frozen, "PCL" levers frozen, and high
pressures upon engine run-up that often affect sensitive pressure switches, valves,
and seals. The Fort Drum respondent notes that the extreme cold affects the
unit's ability to perform maintenance, which "degrade[s] the unit's ability to
support training and mission requirements."
4. Weather support questionnaire.
The weather support questionnaire elicits information on three measures of
icing impact. They are a) the number of days per month when ice or snow occurs
as precipitation events (part A); b) the number of days per month on which in-
flight icing is forecast or reported (part B); and c) the duration of forecast in-
flight icing conditions (part C). The questionnaire results are summarized in
Tables 911. A compilation of results by unit is given in Appendix G, which
includes respondents' written comments.
a. Number of days per month with ice or snow precipitation events.
As expected, December, January, and February are the months with the most
snow or ice events (Table 9). Fort Drum experiences as many as 1925 days with
snow or ice events in the winter months. In contrast, the majority of units in
Germany report seven or fewer days with snow/ice events; the maximum number
of days is 1318, reported by the 1-501st (Attack) [1st Armored Division] in
Hanau for January. The maximum number of days with snow or ice events in
Korea is 812, as reported by the 2-2nd Avn Regt (ASLT) at Camp Stanley and
the 1-52nd Avn Regt (CAB) at Seoul Air Base. Other units reporting 812 days
with snow or ice events are the 2-228th USAR at Fort Sheridan and the 4-123rd
at Fort Wainwright, although for the latter the months of October through
December are the ones with the most snow/ice events. The 38th ID Avn Bde
of the Army National Guard in Indiana experiences 1318 days of snow or ice
events in December and January. CONUS units, then, have the severest winter
conditions in terms of number of days with snow and/or ice events.
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