What is icing and what conditions produce it?

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Multiple Choice

What is icing and what conditions produce it?

Icing on aircraft surfaces happens when supercooled liquid water droplets are present in visible moisture and strike the aircraft. These droplets are liquid even when the air temperature is below freezing, and they freeze on contact with the aircraft, causing ice to accrete. The essential conditions are visible moisture (clouds, fog, or drizzle) and subfreezing temperatures, which allow the droplets to remain liquid until they touch the surface. Freezing rain is a classic icing scenario, but icing can also occur with freezing drizzle or with visible moisture at temperatures below freezing. Humidity or warm, dry air alone don’t cause icing—the presence of supercooled droplets in visible moisture at or below freezing is the key.

Icing on aircraft surfaces happens when supercooled liquid water droplets are present in visible moisture and strike the aircraft. These droplets are liquid even when the air temperature is below freezing, and they freeze on contact with the aircraft, causing ice to accrete. The essential conditions are visible moisture (clouds, fog, or drizzle) and subfreezing temperatures, which allow the droplets to remain liquid until they touch the surface.

Freezing rain is a classic icing scenario, but icing can also occur with freezing drizzle or with visible moisture at temperatures below freezing. Humidity or warm, dry air alone don’t cause icing—the presence of supercooled droplets in visible moisture at or below freezing is the key.

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