How much ice can a 170 pack?

[roamak]

So out of curiosity, how much ice will a 170 pack in icing conditions? Lets start with the obvious, STAY OUT OF THE ICE! Now, I have heard rumors a 206 will pack more ice than is in the Cook Inlet right now. Also a 185. A 207? Not from what I hear. There is a reason its affectionately called a lead sled....
So, anyone hear anything on what a 170 will pack?
Just to be clear, Im not talking about packing ice inside
Feel free to send me a pm if not appropriate for posting.
Greg

[hilltop170]

First off, I get scared at the first indication of ice and will land immediately if not sooner when I first see it building. However, and the statute of limitations has expired by now, I hope, but unbeknown to me at the time, in 1975 or 1976 my 170 picked up clear ice, later measured at the leading edge at 1/2" and coated the lower side of the wing back to about 6" behind the spar. Similar accumulations were on the tail surfaces.

I did not notice any flight control degradation in level flight but I did not test the stall/spin characteristics that day and I descended directly towards an airport as soon as I became aware of the condition. I doubt the climb rate would have been much if any at all. I had been using carb heat all day so the engine was running fine. The windshield was totally covered and obscured and I had to land by looking out the open side window. Luckily, we, as in my instrument instructor and myself were near an airport at the time and I immediately landed as soon as I saw what was happening. My (apparently ice-ignorant) instructor was unfazed and wondered why I had reacted so strongly.

We had been on a 4 hour IFR training flight working toward my instrument rating flying from Dallas to San Angelo to Marfa, Texas in January. I had been under the hood the entire time as we were in VFR conditions under an overcast the whole way in drizzle and light rain. Departing out of San Angelo my instructor noticed we were picking up clear ice but said nothing to me about it. About an hour later he casually said, "you can remove your hood now". I asked why and he replied, "you don't need it anymore". To that, I looked up and could not see anything out the windshield. Strong discussion followed and when I got that instructor back to Dallas he never got in my plane again.

Looking back on it, I would have never agreed to fly in those icing conditions, if given a choice beforehand. But as it turned out, I'm glad I got to experience it. I don't want to do it again though. I don't remember what the cruise airspeed was doing but it must have fallen off some. No abrupt maneuvers were made, thankfully we did not need to climb, we went from cruise to a gradual high speed descent to the airport, airspeed was kept up around 90mph until the tires touched the runway, and we were able to hang out in a warm FBO until the ice melted in about an hour.

Things might have been different with rime or mixed ice.

[blueldr]

The ice packing ability of the Cessna 170 seems to depend on where you are packing it. I've been led to understand that it will carry more by weight in 25 pound blocks in the cabin than it will splattered and stuck on the wings and tail surfaces by mother nature.

[Roesbery]

Two or three inches of smooth ice on top of the cabin only is a non event.
Freezing rain shower can build up ice real thick and fast. Hit some in Canada in the spring of '78'. Sounded like hail on a car top, saw the ice form on the engine cowling about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick in a few seconds, then it slid back to the bottom of the windshield and piled up, maybe 2 to 3 inches thick. more froze solid on the cowling maybe a half inch before the windshield was completely iced over and I could not see at all. Went on the gauges and did a 180 and got out of it. Was in the rain about a minute and a half or two minutes total. Could not see how much was on the wings untill the windshield cleared and the wings had also cleared by then, so do not know how much was on them. Could see out the side windows but was watching the gauges mostly untill the windshield cleared enough to see.

[3958v]

Back when I first purchased my 170 I had an encounter with ice. While flying out of Mertle Beach I was in drizzle when I got about 20 miles North of town the windshield iced over completely in about 15 seconds. As I was searching for the nearest airport departure anounced "flight following discontinued" I quickly confessed to my problems and did a 180 back to Mertle Beach. On the way back we picked up some 10" icicles on the struts. The windshield very nicely shed the ice in short final which was flown with no flaps at about 95 MPH. All ended well and I came away with a much greater appreciation of ice. I must confess other than the time a friend took me through a thunderstorm in an Aztec it was my scariest time in a GA aircraft. Bill K

[GAHorn]

There are no airplanes certified for flight in freezing rain. Stay out of it. Encounters with freezing rain or drizzle are demanding of emergency action.

[mit]

There are no airplanes certified for flight in freezing rain. Stay out of it. Encounters with freezing rain or drizzle are demanding of emergency action.

I have some experience with Ice in Alaska. I don't like it!!! I know a guy that wrote a chapter in his book about getting too much on a 207. I have picked up some on the 170 a few times a trace is as much as I ever want to see!!! What is worse is when you can't see out the Windshield If you want to practice for that just land looking out the side windows On the other hand if you can't see out the front you won't know what hit you!

You haven't really flown until you have experienced flight in a DC-3 over the Brooks range IFR at night when the props start shedding Ice! And the boots are froze down and it takes climb power to maintain altitude.

[DaveF]

I once flew into freezing rain unexpectedly over Illinois in December. Conditions were 5000 overcast, visibility 20, OAT just below freezing, light winds, no convection. Flying along at 3000 my windshield started to ice over and mixed ice formed on the wings. I couldn't see the rain, but I was completely clear of clouds so rain had to be the cause. After just a few minutes the accumulation stopped.

[GAHorn]

After 40 years of flying, most of it "professionally".... ... I helped a friend ferry his new-to-him Debonaire from SEA to Texas. After a fuel stop at Boise, we began the next leg to Montrose with an initial route over the Cascades.
While climbing out over rising terrain and beneath a high overcast we suddenly lost our ability to climb. The rising terrain continued to rise toward the Deb's belly....while the Vertical Speed Indicator remained at Zero. In only a minute we had accumulated a half inch of clear ice from freezing rain out of the clouds well above us.
We crested over a ridge and onto a flat plain that stretched for miles. We were about 300 feet AGL (and 7K msl) , and the viz was about 10 miles with an overcast a few thousand above us. Watching the rocks and prairie-grass slide by, I had the realization that I'd cruised higher while flying pipeline patrol, and that little Deb's IO-470 was pulling max power just to keep us there, hov'ring at about 75 mph. (Humph! The Super King-Air doesn't run out of oomph like this! What'd Beech do when they made THIS thang?)
Too low to turn around and face that ridge again and too low to continue toward the Rockies, and too slow to make a positive climb due to the ice.
The OAT was exactly 32-F.
I made a last-ditch effort to improve our lot by descending to skim the ground,(...Yes, 100' is lower than 300'...) hoping for a slight improvement in OAT....and was feeling my friend and former student's eyes on me. HIs Deb wasn't doing too good and his buddy wasn't looking too confident I'd imagined.
Anyway, it was just barely a degee warmer next to the ground (maybe due to friction with the earth... ) and v e r y s l o w l y ...the ice sublimed-away over the next 20 miles, and we were able to climb up through a HOLE and into the sunlight, where we stayed (11.5K MSL) until time to descend into Montrose and shoot the approach and land.
The reason I'm getting to the point of being an old pilot...is because I was a lucky pilot that trip. Despite my "previous experience"...I danged near scared myself that day. Freezing, super-coooled rain/drizzle. Dangerous beyond expectation.

[roamak]

Thank you everyone for the response. The reason I started this is ice is real and happens fast. A lot of pilots will never see it. A few have. Ice deserves massive respect and I don't feel its talked about enough.
I will never forget living on Svalbard and flying back and fourth to the mine every couple weeks (as a passenger). Pitch dark for 7 months and usually blowing like hell and snowing sideways. Watching ice build on the wings and hearing it slap off the the props scared the hell out of me several times, and Im not one to be nervous in a plane.
I have never hit ice with my 170 and I hope I never do.
Greg

[Metal Master]

I usually pack two Colman coolers with 3 blocks of ice each for extended trips. But i only load it just before entering the woods on a camping trip to Montana or Idaho during the summer months. I have never had a problem with it.