Thank You!!!!

[zaruthoj]

Yesterday I experienced carb ice in real life for the first time. It was a complete non-event. I was cruising in IMC and rain, and I noticed that my RPMs had dropped from 2600 to 2500. I immediately suspected carb ice and applied heat. RPMs dropped a bit more as expected, and after a minute they recovered to 2550. Carb ice confirmed, so I left it on until I reached my destination.

Contrast this to the first time I experienced carb ice in the A2A Cherokee. I was also in IMC that time, and at low enough altitude that there wasn't much time to troubleshoot. I had no idea what was happening, and ended up landing in a neighborhood about half a mile short of the airport I tried to make it to.

I've seen carb ice in the sim about 4 times since then, so I'm pretty used to it at this point. Yesterday's flight concluded uneventfully because the A2A Cherokee has trained me to quickly recognize and resolve this real world failure.

Thank you for making such a fantasticly realistic training tool!!

[Lewis - A2A]

Nice, glad the simulation is aiding you in some real situations, esp in this sort of instance where its helping you troubleshoot and keeping you calm

hope you have many many years of trouble free sim and real flying

thanks,
Lewis - A2A

[mryan75]

Next question: why were you cruising at redline?

[zaruthoj]

I wasn't. Redline is 2700.

I was at 6,000ft and 75% power. Per the POH, 75% power at 6,000ft is 2580 RPM and leaned to 8.9 GPH. I was at 2600 RPM and 9.1 GPH if I remember correctly. That's about as close to the POH setting as I'm likely to get with the engine gauges I've got.

[Scott - A2A]

zaruthoj,

Thanks for sharing the experience. My first time experiencing carb icing in the Comanche was down in Florida with outside temperature in the mid 50's. It was this experience that inspired us to do the carb icing just right.

Later on in a holding pattern in a similar situation I was experiencing carb icing and the cameras were rolling in the cockpit, so I captured the time it took to ice up and the behavior and time it took to shed / melt the ice with carb heat. And we made Accu-Sim simulate that exactly the same way.

Scott.

[zaruthoj]

Scott,

That's awesome that you were able to capture that kind of real world data. It definitely shows. My real world experience matched the simulation pretty much perfectly. I think that's what made it so easy to diagnose.

[KarelPatch]

Just experienced my first carb icing on the A2A Comanche today. This was pretty dramatic because I had enough power to take off and... that’s it... Was able to land on the same runway because it was a big one.

[Oracle427]

The O-470 equipped 182 is noted for being an ice machine. The carburetor is located well below the oil pan where any hear produced by the engine is certain never to reach it.

On two occasions I have experienced carb icing on the way to the run-up area and the engine needed carb ice cleared during the run-up. It was very obvious both times with the engine coughing and stumbling and RPM dropping by 300 instead of 100 with the introduction of carb heat. I also have a carb temp gauge on this particular aircraft which I'll use on the ground if carb icing is observed during run up. I will adjust the carb heat on the ground while holding for takeoff to prevent carb icing from building up again.

The carb heat on the 182 is very strong with induction air temp going from 20F to 130F in a very short time if max heat is applied. It has a very pronounced effect on engine performance with that much temperature change. I will take out the carb heat for the takeoff and then set it again once cruising. I'll also watch the MAP for unexpected drops throughout the flight.

Using the carb heat on the ground lets some unfiltered air into the engine, but is much better than the alternative.