Page 30 - Feb17TNT

a little early on the right main first, then either make exit C3 on the left, or if braking seems poor, just let it roll to the end. He concurs, saying, “Yep, that’s what I would do.”
The touchdown goes as planned, and hearing the Citation behind us reporting established on the localizer, we get the reversers and brakes going and make C3 without any slipping or sliding. The Citation lands shortly after we exit and lets it run to the end of the runway, which is not good for us because that puts him much closer to the FBO and fueling truck. The Citation crew however comes to a complete stop after exiting the runway, and stays there apparently running their after landing checklist. Seeing that happening, I pick up the taxi speed a bit, and beat them to the wand- carrying line guy next to the fuel truck by about the same amount of time our departures differed back at KCSG.
We open the door and get out of the Lear to find its de-icing equipment has worked quite well. There is a little bit of rime ice on the winglets. It is nothing we can’t remove by hand that would prevent us from taking off again as soon as our fueling is completed. Not so for our Citation-driving buddies. They must have kept their airspeed low and angle of
attack too high while descending because the bottom of their wing and vertical stabilizer have so much ice that even our passengers comment on it. Standing at the FBO’s counter, they ask if the de-ice truck is working and about how much it will cost. The estimate could easily pay for a month’s worth of crew meals. With considerable trepidation, they retire to a private area of the lounge to call their company for approval.
While the line guys are trying to get the de-icing truck’s frozen engine started for the Citation, we are loading up while giving thought to the departure. Obviously, it would be better to not fly when icing conditions exist. But if you must, the safest strategy is to make sure all de-ice systems are operating, then get airborne as soon as you can and climb above the icing levels just as fast possible,
all the while keeping the horizontal speed up as high as the airplane will do and still climb well. A lightly loaded Lear 40 will climb 4,000 to 5,000 fpm while doing 275 and 300 kts in the horizontal. In our case, this means that if the climb is unrestricted, we will be above the icing levels at about 4 minutes.
With this in mind, we call Minneapolis Center on their remote frequency for our clearance and request (for reasons of ice) no delay in our climb after takeoff. They understand the prob- lem completely and come back with a clearance directly to the mid-30s.
Five minutes after takeoff we are in bright sunshine, and a bit later, land in Seattle where it is clear as a bell. With nasty icing conditions now just a distant
memory, we think, “Nice trip.” T&T •
Kevin Ware is an ATP who also holds CFI, MEII and helicopter ratings, has more than 10,000 hours and is typed in several different business jets. He has been flying for a living on and off since he was 20, and currently works as a contract pilot for various corpo- rate operations in the Seattle area. When not working as a pilot he is employed part time as an emergency and urgent care physician. He can be reached at kevin.ware2@aol.com
Winter flying is a balance of evaluating risks with aircraft capability and careful weather analysis.
28 • TWIN & TURBINE
February 2017