Pitot Icing Symptoms

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wired521
Airman Basic
Posts: 5
Joined: 02 Jan 2018, 19:35

Pitot Icing Symptoms

Post by wired521 »

Hey everyone,

Just curious, what are the symptoms of pitot tube icing? I've been flying through some nasty conditions (high precip clouds at -5C and lower... for fun) and have noticed carb icing on multiple occasions. I noticed I had my pitot tube heat off, but didn't notice any abnormalities. I'm using P3V4 (if there is a difference).

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Oracle427
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Re: Pitot Icing Symptoms

Post by Oracle427 »

The simulation of this is rather basic. The airspeed will rapidly drop to zero and remain there until you turn on the pitot heat and give it enough time to melt off the ice.

There is no simulation of having both the pitot tube and it's drain port get plugged in which case the altimeter would behave like an altimeter with airspeed increasing as you climb and decreasing as you descend relative to the airspeed shown at the altitude when both ports became blocked.
Flight Simmer since 1983. PP ASEL IR Tailwheel
N28021 1979 Super Viking 17-30A

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AKar
A2A Master Mechanic
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Joined: 26 May 2013, 05:03

Re: Pitot Icing Symptoms

Post by AKar »

As a curiosity, real-life pitot icing events won't necessarily drop the reading to zero, or off-scale low, but to some valid, but inconsistent figure well below the expected value. Therefore it is a different thing from a simple airspeed indication failure.

-Esa

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ClipperLuna
Technical Sergeant
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Re: Pitot Icing Symptoms

Post by ClipperLuna »

Oracle427 wrote:There is no simulation of having both the pitot tube and it's drain port get plugged in which case the altimeter would behave like an altimeter with airspeed increasing as you climb and decreasing as you descend relative to the airspeed shown at the altitude when both ports became blocked.
This is more-or-less what happened to Birgenair Flight 301, except the captain's pitot was blocked (most probably) by a wasp nest. Its indicated airspeed kept climbing as the aircraft climbed, despite the autopilot increasing its pitch and reducing power. Its actual airspeed was decreasing, but the indicating system was fooled into thinking the decrease in pressure on the "static side" of the system was an increase in pressure on the "pitot side."

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