Risk of Airframe In-flight Icing and Icing Prediction Algorithms

Absztrakt

Despite the stormy evolution of technical aspects, on-board applications and the great development in the field of weather forecast in the last decades, aerial operation still greatly depends on weather conditions. The majority of weather condition related flight accidents are consequences of icing. It is essential to pay full attention to the physical processes of icing, to recognize these factors in detail. On the basis of studies it was also required to set up and develop modern weather forecast procedures. Today, it is still not possible to say whether the flight meets icing zones or not, and still meteorologists can only advise us on the potentially dangerous icing areas. All this information supports us to avoid hazardous airspaces. Notwithstanding, in case the flight crew faces a large icing area on its route, it already has got means to fight against icing. Today, several types of aircraft are equipped with protection systems against icing to decrease the possible risk. These can be preventer or de-icing systems. The topic of this article is the icing itself, the forecasting methods of icing and icing prevention systems. This article provides us with a short but comprehensive outlook on the topic.