For pilots who regularly use their airplanes to travel, having ice protection beyond a heated pitot tube often goes from the nice to have column to the I really need it column when considering upgrades to the family machine-especially if there's recently been a pucker-inducing encounter. We did a survey of whats available for retrofit and found, to our surprise and pleasure, that some form of retrofit de-icing system is available for just about any high-performance piston single or twin.
If life were fair, no pilot would ever have to fly in conditions in which airframe icing becomes a reality. But life isn’t fair and any pilot who flies IFR in the winter or at high altitude faces the very real possibility of decorating the airplane with ice no matter how carefully she or he plans, plots and schemes.
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