My first freezing rain encounter

The weather was perfect for flying yesterday morning, sunny, mostly
blue sky with about 12000' ceiling and little wind (unlike the day
before when we canceled our flying plan due to 13G24 wind). As usual,
we checked weather sites, TAF/weather map etc before heading to the
airport. Bad weather is moving in but not until later in the day with
3000' ceiling at 3pm and light rain predicted at midnight or so. Our
plan was just to do some local IFR training flights taking turns
wearing foggles or acting as the safety pilot.
After entering the gate, we glanced at the ramp and saw quite a bit
of activities with several vehicles and a small group of people at the
north side of runway 24. In closer look, we saw a plane landed off the
runway in the grassy area with half of the wing stuck in a fence. We
immediately thought that the accident was due to the gusty/windy
condition the day before. It turned out that it was due to an engine
trouble on take off, luckily the pilot walked away unarm. We saw both
the pilot and the owner in the pilot lounge. Both looked quite grave
and were busy checking AIG insurance policy on open pilot cause.
We have always done a thoroughly preflight inspection and
preparation but this incident made us double-checks everything. After
plugging in the Reiff heaters and put on the nose mitten, Rick went and
chatted with a friend who was preheating his with a propane tank. He
also had a new engine and we both felt that preheating was needed even
in temp near 40F. The was quite a lot of activities on the ramp and in
the pattern in this relatively warm January weather. We went to the
mall nearby to pick up some tools at Sears while the engine being
heated. In checking the sky after our shopping, I was somewhat
concerned of the overcast instead of earlier blue sky but Rick assured
me that the ceiling should stay high enough for our practices.
We had planned to take off at before noon, but all the activities
added up and we did not depart until 1pm. The tanks were more than half
full. We thought of topping off but to save time, Rick suggested that
instead of flying northeast to Pawling VOR, he could do his practice on
the way north to Columbia. We could fuel there and I could fly to
Pawling on the swayback for my practice turn. ATIS at taxi time
indicated 5000' ceiling with about 2C spread between temp and dew
point.
While Rick was under the hood, I noticed that both the ceiling and
visibility seemed to get worse as we approached 1B1, so I suggested him
to cut the practice short and just prepared to land. Columbia AWOS
indicated wind at 200, 12 gusting to 18 (in contrast with 6 knots wind
at Dutchess) and with only 1C spread between temp and dew point. We
quickly fueled up, sumped the fuel, did a walk around inspection,
listened to AWOS then took off again. Ceiling had lowered to 3500' and
temp and dew point were both at 3C. I turned on the pitot heat and
made sure that cowl flap was close and the engine was leaned. After
about 15 to 20 minute under the hood, I heard Rick said in a somewhat
alarming voice "Change your plan, we are heading back to Dutchess - It
has started to rain". Then his raised his voice "Full throttle, full
throttle, we have ice on the windshield". Rick immediately put on the
defroster while I flipped on all our lights, landing/taxi/nav and
double checked that the pitot heat was on, cowl flap close, carb heat
off, engine leaned. We wanted the engine to kick off as much heat as
possible. At the same time, I was also trying to descend to a lower
altitude while keeping the speed just below the yellow arc. Rick wanted
me to go down to 2000' both for warmer air and less headwind (we have
something like 40' headwind at 3000') but I settled for 2500'thinking
altitude was my friend. Rick told me the GPS showed the nearest airport
was Kingston at 7nm and asked me whether I wanted to land there. Our
encounter with freezing rain was quite brief probably less than a
minute, because the windshield ice seemed to start melting where the
defroster hit at the pilot's side and there was no evidence of
additional ice build up. I had plenty of lift at full throttle, had to
pull back the power to stay at 2500' and not getting in the yellow arc.
I told Rick that I would continue south to Dutchess toward better
weather. KPOU ATIS indicated ceiling of 4000' with 1C spread between
temp and dew point. I contacted the tower for landing and also
reported our light icing encountered. The tower told us that they would
notify flight service. By this time, my side of the windshield was
clear enough for VFR. In my vague recollection, I probably relied
mostly on the instrument panel trying to keep straight and level,
descent at steady rate, following the VOR radial back to KPOU. I have
not officially started my instrument training but had done dozens of
foggles hours and had just spent the entire week playing with my
Christmas present, Elite v.8 with the IFR training manual. The
practices really came in handy.
In setting up for landing, I tried to stay high and slipped in with
only 10-degree flap. Over the fence, I was still pretty high and
somewhat fast so I dropped to 20-degree flap and reduced power to near
idle to make sure that I would not land long on the 3000 feet runway.
The landing was good and I was able to turn left to Alpha taxiway right
to our tie-down area.
The windshield was totally clear by the time we landed. I immediately
got out and check the wings. They were still coated with a clear thin
layer of ice which was melting quickly at 38F ground temperature.
After my icing report to the tower, there were two planes taking off
northbound. On our way out of the airport, we noticed several people
standing near the ramp area having their picture taken. Rick stopped
and asked whether they planned to go up soon. They nodded with big
smiles. The pilot was on the ramp getting the plane ready. Rick told
the passengers about the freezing rain/icing and suggested that should
not go up. I am not sure whether they comprehend the danger of the
situation by the look on their faces. I just hope that they would tell
the pilot of our advice.
In reviewing the incidence, we realized that we have made several
small errors. First, we should leave a wider margin of time for the
incoming bad weather. Secondly, we should not have changed our flight
plan at the last minute. If we had planned to go north to Columbia, we
would have paid closer attention to Albany TAF and weather report.
After our flight, I checked my mail and found an urgent winter storm
watch and warning for Albany region which remained in effect from noon
to 5pm:
"WARM MOIST AIR AHEAD OF A WARM FRONT MOVING INTO THE NORTHEAST FROM
THE OHIO VALLEY WILL RIDE OVER VERY COLD AIR TRAPPED NEAR THE
SURFACE. A MIXTURE OF FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET WILL OVERSPREAD THE
REGION FROM WEST TO EAST DURING THE AFTERNOON AS TEMPERATURES
GRADUALLY RISE THROUGH THE 20S AND TOWARD THE FREEZING MARK"
It I had seen this warning of the temperature inversion, we would not
done this flight!
Doing my logbook after the flight, I noticed that this flight
completed my 400th hour in 4 years. Paul Craig's "The Killing Zone"
book identified the dangerous zone being between 50-350hrs. I don't
really believe that I am safe being outside of this zone. Piloting is
lifelong learning experience. We were just being a bit too complacent
with our local flights. This incident was a great wakeup call.
Hai Longworth