Why is ice on the wing of a small plane BAD news?

Question

Why is ice on the wing of a small plane BAD news?

Answer 1

extra weight will impose more stresses on the airframe during maneuvering and turbulence

can and will affect the wing's ability to generate lift

can jam your control surfaces if you're unlucky

you might experience handling differences

Answer 2

It can unbalance the weight of the plane or it can s***w up the sensors like the altimeter and other stuff because i used to watch air emergency and a piece of tape caused the plane to crash into the ocean the tape was covering a sensor so it was giving the wrong information and the pilots taught they were 2000 feet up but they were only about 5 feet above the sea and crashed because it was foggy and it was night time

Answer 3

ice on the wing of any aircraft is very bad news

Answer 4

it's bad news on big planes too - -

there's the excess weight the ice causes, ice sucked into the air intake can "choke" the engine, ice can break off parts of the plane (antennas, etc), visibility issues, etc.

Frost, snow or ice accumulations no thicker than a piece of

sandpaper can reduce lift by 30% and increase drag up to 40%!

:o)

Answer 5

Lift.

Wings have lift. Ice affects the pressure.

Answer 6

it freezes the wing making it unable to fly.in the late 1990s a plane crashed because of ice on the wings.after take off it dove into a river nearby

Answer 7

Its not the weight of the ice that causes the problem. The ice changes the shape of the airfoil. Years ago when I was younger and a little stupider, I attempted to blow a mixture of ice and snow off the wings of a PA28-140 The runway was long enough to stop after my experiment so I attempted to take off knowing I could still stop on the available lenght. The nose wheel came up but it wouldn't fly.

Answer 8

Ice on the wing of ANY aircraft big or small is bad news.

why

1) Increases the aircraft's weight

2) one wing may have more ice formation than the other which will mean one side of the aircraft is heavier.

3) it destroys the designed airfoil shape and destroys lift by doing this.

4) it has the potential to jam flying controls which can be catastrophic.

Answer 9

Half an inch of ice on the wings can reduce lift by up to 40%.

Ice on the wings of most small aircraft means that twice as much has formed on the tail section of the plane... which may lead to a tailplane stall (very serious).

Ice on the wings means that ice would also have collected on areas of the aircraft not generating lift, adding weight to the aircraft.

Ice on the wings means that ice has likely formed on the engine intakes, choking the engines of oxygen, causing them to lose power.

Reduced engine power + less lift + more weight = Going down!