While I don't consider myself an expert, I have
given this topic a fair amount of thought and am planning to de-ice my
Legacy.
I certainly don't advocate flying in "known ice",
however even if you avoid flying in "known ice" you can sometimes encounter
significant unknown ice, which is no more fun than the known kind. I live
in Baltimore and have had some scary encounters with ice over Western MD in
April and November as well as a number of other less scary encounters including
one over Ohio in August.
When I got my Mooney Ovation, I equipped it with
TKS icing. The icing install was done after I had the airplane for several
months so I got to fly it before and after the installation of the TKS. To
make a long story short, I lost about 6 kts because of the TKS. I think
that you would lose even more than that on a Lancair because of the critical
laminar flow wing. On the other hand, if you put TKS on a fat Piper wing,
or if you mold the leading edge to accept TKS as Diamond has done, you probably
won't lose any significant speed.
I didn't find the TKS fluid to be too much of a
pain, but others have complained about this aspect of TKS as well.
I have been told that electro expulsive is also
thick and would cause a significant speed loss, but don't have any
personal experience. I presume boots would be the same - again no
experience.
That leaves me with heated leading edge which is
now being worked on by RDD in Redmond. The URL is: http://www.rddent.com/. This is also the
system that Columbia uses. This is the system that I hope to have
installed on my plane. I know they have installed systems on IVs and ESs
and suggest that you give them a call.
Doug Brunner
N241DB
?first flight - August?
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2007 7:21
PM
Subject: [LML] To de-ice, or not to
de-ice, and if so, how?
Gents:
This is a philosophical question
as well as a technical recommendation question.
A) would you consider a de-ice
system for the IV-P?
B) if so, which technology would
you use?
In general, I don’t believe in
flying small planes anywhere near icing conditions (been there done that –
sinking feeling when you are at full throttle and unable to maintain level
flight – then your prop heat throws off a chunk of ice that hits the
windshield like a brick…. Just to keep your heart rate and blood pressure way
high off the chart.)
And, having said the above, after
you have done everything possible to avoid icing conditions, and you still
find yourself icing up, it would be nice to be able to do something about it
other than pray, which I have done (“I promise to mend all my evil ways if you
just help me out of this one…”).
So, philosophically, would you
recommend a de-ice system?
If so, would you lean
toward:
Heated Leading Edge
Electro Expulsive
Glycol
Rubber Boot
Other?
As always, your
thoughts/recommendations are welcome. Thanks in
advance.
John Hafen
Lancair IV-P N413AJ
2/3rds done (I
pray)
PS – I LIVE IN SEATTLE – THE
WEATHER IS ALWAYS SH1TTY, HERE.
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