Interesting post.
The day after I got my MIFR, some friends asked me to zip them over to YVR at o'dark thirty in the morning to catch a flight. Naturally, that spring morning the weather had gone to absolute crap, so there was a real incentive to fly IFR. However, discretion being the better part of valor, I elected to conduct the flight over (172) VFR, hopping island to island. Once there, however, I filed IFR for the solo return to YYJ. Flight back was hard IFR, in the dark, all the way. Everything was great, right up until getting onto the old Duncan 3 arrival (33DME arc?) when the windshield glazed right over, and by looking out the side window, I could see (watch, actually) the clear ice accumulating on the leading edge, and the strut!! I quickly admitted my situation to ATC and asked for vectors to intercept the ILS (short gate) rather than continue to fly the arc. The end of the approach was flown at about 2100rpm to stop the sink rate. When I got down, I taxied back to the hangar basically by brail, sweating bullets for what I figured the boss was going to say to me. 2-3 INCHES of ice on the leading edges of everything, including the nose-bowl.
Hour later, the boss came in, took one look at the plane strategically parked in the one corner of sunshine, with huge, shiney bits of ice laying all around it on the ground, and just started to shake his head. Looked around the base, and as I was the only one there (before 08:00) he called me into his office, and closed the door. Asked what had happened, how I had dealt with it, and what my pulse rate had been. After telling him the story, I sat there waiting for the lashing I was expecting. Instead, he said "OK, that's all I need to know", and sent me away. However, on the way out the door, he also let me know that a C172 will, in fact, carry a TON of ice. Years later, he admitted to me that he really didn't need to berate me any further, because it was obvious I'd learned my lesson, and I wasn't likely to do it again.
I subsequently got lots of experience flying different equipment in all kinds of icing conditions- learned lots. Learned why even aircraft with heated inlets and leading edges are only approved for dispatch into light or moderate ice. There isn't an aircraft on the planet (far as I know) that is approved for dispatch into severe icing. Learned that boots can, and often do, go u/s when you need them most. Learned how to select an altitude that will be favorable. Learned that there are a lot of things you can do to facilitate your flight in icing conditions. Most importantly, however, I learned to treat ice with a LOT of respect.
Yesterday, I was out with a student, and we started picking up light rime. We immediately returned to the airport, and I cancelled the next two bookings. Point made.
