Small Airplanes

Icing Protection Systems - Testing

• Print

Weather websites that have been used by flight testers to find icing conditions for testing

• NOAA's National Weather Service
• Aviation Digital Data Services (ADDS)

Commercial web sites that provide real time icing data which has been used successfully in flight tests
A good reference is "An aircraft flight test program in natural icing conditions: part 1—forecasting for the desired meteorological conditions," presented at the American Meteorological Society (AMS) 9th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology, September 2000, and available from the American Meteorological Society.

Flight test safety

• FAA Order 4040.26B, Aircraft Certification Service Flight Safety Program, requires risk assessments for flight testing. Although tests should be evaluated on a case by case basis, ice shape flight testing is classified as high risk and natural icing as medium risk in Appendix 3. Risk assessments that have been used on recent Part 23 single engine certification testing are provided as examples below. For more risk assessments and lessons learned consult the NASA/FAA flight test safety database at http://pmba.nasa.gov/ftsdb.
• Ice Shape Testing - General (PDF)
• Ice Shape Testing - Stalls (PDF)
• Ice Shape Testing - ICTS (PDF)
• Natural Icing Tests - General Risks (PDF)
• Natural Icing Tests - Departure Risks (PDF)
• Natural Icing Tests - Engine/Propeller Risks (PDF)