I am doing my IR at the moment, so given the the November weather in the UK we are often flying into IMC and potential icing conditions (with a safe exit into +0 of course). So far no airframe icing, but carb icing is a regular occurrence. Asymmetric go arounds worry me more than ice, if I know I can safely get out of it… I’d refuse to launch if I wasn’t sure we could get into +0 and there was no way avoiding IMC.
I have to admit that I am also not going to test that! 
But I do not intend to test “how much in carry”.
You should not try it unless you have other data. I don’t read the Cirrus forum because one has to pay $$$ to get access. Maybe there are postings on there?
Because once you lose control – you will never recover
That’s true if you completely lose it, but at any stage one can regain control from the stall buffet stage by speeding up – obviously provided the aircraft is still flying the right way up. If you are already at full power then the only way to speed up is to descend.
The exception is an elevator stall… but that requires a lot of ice and usually you get overwhelming “warnings” (a huge loss of speed, resulting in a stall) before that happens. The only documented case I have seen of an elevator stall was that famous NASA video and that was a big twin turboprop, so they had loads of power and could just carry on collecting ice.
I think it is right to talk about this stuff. Being irrationally afraid of icing (which is perhaps the message which some instructors put across) is not smart, and every pilot flying “practical” IFR is going to pick up a bit of ice here and there. A few mm – just visible against the rivets – is normal.
There probably are aircraft types which completely lose it with any ice. Anecdotally, fully laminar designs can do that, and some even suffer badly with water droplets (flying in rain!).
And the TB20 has no CAPS
Yes – all you have is your brain, and the altitude below you, and aircraft systems knowledge…
Assuming a pilot who can fly, in very few situations is the chute the best option without question:
Almost no Cirrus chute pulls were any of the above. The last UK chute pull was a pilot who got confused flying an instrument approach…
I think it is right to talk about this stuff. Being irrationally afraid of icing (which is perhaps the message which some instructors put across) is not smart, and every pilot flying “practical” IFR is going to pick up a bit of ice here and there. A few mm – just visible against the rivets – is normal.
Interesting with black boots on the wings and horiz stabiliser you see much more ice than you would on a light coloured leading edge. Almost always something in IMC 0 to -15. Never really get anything in non-convective cloud below that.
Old pilots and bold pilots.
As i said, too many paid for it with their lives.
I find it silly and unnecessary to try these things.
The pilots of the comair Dash-8 and the Roselawn ATR were maybe not as professional as you, but maybe you should read those files to see how quickly things can happen with ice.
About “Being irrationally afraid of icing”
I think: it is irrational for a private pilot in any of our spam cans to fly into icing deliberately. It is also completely illegal.
This is what a professional (jet) pilot posted on COPA:
Though they may seem similar, no two icing scenarios are the same. Even in the same place at the same temperature with clouds that looks the same, it only takes one small pocket of Supercooled Large Droplets to ruin your whole day. This is especially true in mountainous terrain. The insidious thing about icing incidents is one could have 1, 5, 10, or a hundred without encountering these killers. Each time one encounters icing without a terrible outcome a human tendency is triggered to think, ‘this stuff isn’t that bad’. But it is. You just don’t know when.
SLD or freezing rain is certainly serious no matter what you are flying.
The NTSB made these recommendations in its 2011 icing review:
What can pilots remember?
Assuming a pilot who can fly, in very few situations is the chute the best option without question
I happily accept that in 70% of all cases a pilot pulls the chute he only has to do so because he/she has made an error.
Unfortunately, looking at fatal accidents, 70% of pilots who die do so because they have made an error.
From that I conclude, if I die flying, there is a 70% likelihood I made an error at that point.
I’d rather survive. Better alive and embarrassed than dead and proud.
Very logical, Cobalt, and my point of view too. The “it will only happen to a bad pilot” attitude is where the dangers of flying start.
And since i don’t like capital punishment, not even for bad pilots – that’s why i like CAPS!
