Anyone else get more icing on descents than climbs?

[ols500]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if you guys have noticed a similar thing I tend to pick up alot more icing when descending than climbing. I wondered if theres any science behind it or just a coincidence.

Thanks ollie

[digits_]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if you guys have noticed a similar thing I tend to pick up alot more icing when descending than climbing. I wondered if theres any science behind it or just a coincidence.

Thanks ollie

Depends on how you descend. During a climb in a turboprop your VS might be higher than the VS you get during a descend, which means you'll spend less time in the icing layer.

A higher IAS in an icing layer during descend will increase your capture rate. On the other hand, you go really fast, air compression will increase the air temperature at airplane skin and mitigate this effect a little bit.

Theoretically, if you don't care about comfort, POH or ATC restrictions, at power idle and Vne, you would minimize your icing on descend.

[lownslow]

if you don't care about comfort, POH or ATC restrictions, at power idle and Vne, you would minimize your icing on descend.

I care about those things and have done hundreds of flight idle Vne (well, technically Vmo/Mmo) descents. Maybe thousands.

As for the OP, my gut feeling is we’re more likely to have level-offs happen in descent which can prolong your time spent in icing.

[‘Bob’]

Anyone notice you get more turbulence on descents than climbs?

[goingnowherefast]

Anyone notice you get more turbulence on descents than climbs?

Higher IAS. Hit the bumps harder, and makes them more pronounced.

[CaptDukeNukem]

I think Bob was being sarcastic

[oldncold]

Generally. As you climb the air gets dryer and colder. The opposite happen in descents thunderstorms up end this. But in a stratiform air mass. U can avoid icing by climbing to flt levels and cold air below --25c.

[Reinhard]

Catch rate increase with higher airspeed. If you climb at a normal climb speed but descend at a high IAS, you could accumulate more ice on descent.

[redlaser]

I had two feet of snow on my wings yesterday and it took me two hours to get it off.

[CaptDukeNukem]

I had two feet of snow on my wings yesterday and it took me two hours to get it off.

Get yourself the Amex platinum, metal cards work better to scrape it off then your plastic KOHO

[pdw]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if you guys have noticed a similar thing I tend to pick up alot more icing when descending than climbing. I wondered if theres any science behind it or just a coincidence.

Thanks ollie

What’s average altitude you’d typically start your descent? I’ve always wondered how all the frigid/ unheated hardware (or cold soaking) affects that … esp this time of year (getting colder).
On the way up most of the outside airframe is more often warmer.

[cdnavater]

Hi guys,

Just wondering if you guys have noticed a similar thing I tend to pick up alot more icing when descending than climbing. I wondered if theres any science behind it or just a coincidence.

Thanks ollie

What’s average altitude you’d typically start your descent? I’ve always wondered how all the frigid/ unheated hardware (or cold soaking) affects that … esp this time of year (getting colder).
On the way up most of the outside airframe is more often warmer.

My god, how long do you think it takes for metal to take on the ambient temperature?
Icing is a combination of catch rate and liquid droplets(super cooled).
Speed and wing thickness affects catch rate and how long you are in the cloud affect how much you accumulate. In a climb your airspeed is typically slower(lower catch rate) but your rate of climb extends your time in the conditions conducive to icing, in descent if you descend at a faster airspeed(increased catch rate), thinner wing(increased catch rate), this will affect the accumulation.
Bottom line, the science behind whether or not you pick up more ice in the descent has many variables, I would say the descent is not really applicable, it’s how you descend that affects this, if you slow down your airspeed and have a similar rate of descent to what you would climb at, likely very much the same and the moisture in the airmass you are in is the other variable.

https://www.weather.gov/source/zhu/ZHU_ ... %20content.

“The size of droplets affects the rate of catch. Small drops tend to follow the airflow and are carried around the wing. Large, heavy drops tend to strike the wing. When a small drop does hit, it will spread back over the wing only a small distance. The large drop spreads farther. As for airspeed, the number of droplets struck by the aircraft in a certain time increases as the airspeed increases. The curvature of the leading edge of the wing also has an effect on the rate of catch. Thin wings catch more droplets than do thick wings. The rate of catch is, therefore, greatest for an aircraft with thin wings flying at high speed through a cloud with large droplets and a high liquid water content”

[redlaser]

Do what I do don't fly in freezing rain or where temperatures are near 0 degrees, fly higher in snow or lower in warmer air, stay out of tops of clouds where you will encounter large water droplets and clear ice, plan a rapid descent through freezing levels,