I’m thinking about the full TKS package, not just the TKS prop. But it’s about safety and despatch rate improvement, not regulation – so doesn’t necessarily need to be FIKI certified.
I know that we’ve ‘done’ TKS before and that it’s an expensive after market option. However, I’m still wondering about it as an option for my TB20GT (N reg), which I understand is available from AirPlus at Friedrichshafen. I tend to be fairly cautious in my go/no go decisions, so cancel a lot of flights where there is potential for icing, especially in the climb, and the sub zero cloud layer is probably more than about 2000’ thick.
I probably have two options if TKS is worthwhile without a turbo:-
(1) put the expensive TKS on the TB20 (which my A&P/IA) told me recently was in great condition, or
(2) sell the TB20 and buy a NA SR22 (quite a few with TKS around, although mostly for sale in the USA)
(I’m thinking of the SR22 as it certainly fits my ‘mission profile’ and there is plenty of choice. But it’s not intended as a Pro Cirrus, Anti Other Brands statement.)
So I’m seeking comments on this – particularly from those with full TKS on a NA aircraft. Does it get you through that icing layer which you wouldn’t attempt without it? Or is it a waste of money/payload because the potential icing is often high enough to need a turbo to get to VMC on top?
My thinking is that I would very much like an aircraft with anti-/de-ice just for the reasons you mention. I believe that if you have a capable enough aircraft, whether the engine is turbocharged or not is less important unless you want to fly high enough to get above frontal weather, but in that case you may also want all kind of other goodies like for example a weather radar and pressurisation.
Would the aircraft need to be FIKI is also a question worth asking. You do have SR22s with ice protection on propeller and wings, but not on windshield and empennage.
The problem with buying another airplane is that you may have to do the panel you may have done on your existing airplane all over again, so you embark on a project.
Does it get you through that icing layer which you wouldn’t attempt without it?
In my experience, there is no such thing as “that icing layer” in continental Europe any more. One encounters icing all year round at any level, from ground up to the tropopause. Lately I think (or rather feel) that I have had to turn on anti ice mostly between FL150 and FL250 but in a month or two that can shift 5000ft upwards or downwards.
Personally, faced with your choice, I would go for anti ice first and turbo second.
How much is it?
It will cost you north of €45k. Don’t do it, buy an aircraft that has it. Turbo gives you a lot more than TKS.
The only flights I would depart on with TKS that I don’t depart on today are those with the freezing level at/below ground and danger of widespread icing. Otherwise I have good options to get rid of the ice. Just a few days ago I got into severe icing (very impressive, it took 3-5 seconds for the windows to be completely covered) but I had a good way out. TKS wouldn’t have changed the game but I would not have undertaken the flight with the freezing level at ground.
My NA has it, and I think it’s a good thing to have. The few times I have ecountered ice was between 7000 and 12000 feet, altitudes that are typical for the non-Turbo SR22. Of course I wouldn’t install it on a used NA, but all later SR22s have it anyway.
Is €45k the current price for a TB20? Is there a price list online?
It was €40k for the C182 back when a Euro would buy you plenty of dollars and given the new currency situation and the simpler job for the TB20 (no wing struts), it was a guess although an educated one.
All in all, I was not that happy with my interaction with AirPlus and the reports I got from their customers. I asked another shop to get CAS approval but they were not interested, said it’s a crap job…
Also the TKS tank would occupy a large portion of the baggage compartment and I would have had to design my own (illegal) tank that fits under the rear bench. Didn’t think it was a smart way of spending such an amount of money. Better to switch to another aircraft that already has it once I come to the conclusion I really need TKS.
With a turbo it’s fairly easy to find an altitude where there is no icing. Just no good way to get rid of it when surface temperatures are below freezing.
With a turbo it’s fairly easy to find an altitude where there is no icing
I don’t agree with that, without various qualifiers. For example in the departure or arrival phases you have no option but to transit through icing conditions. A turbo just means you can climb through the stuff faster, but if like today right where I am now
you have the full 8000ft of the stuff, you are looking at ~8 minutes of exposure. No light GA plane will be in a flyable condition after that amount of moderate (or worse) ice accretion.
It is just a pity that TKS is a messy job to install, and the manufacturer is such a bad company to deal with.
A turbo just means you can climb through the stuff faster
I agree. But at some point you have to get down and be vectored inside the stuff below arrivals to CDG, for a lot more than 8 minutes. That is when you really need TKS and turbo does you no good.
Yes, turbo gets you through an icing layer, but is may also get you above some of the weather.
So TKS first, then turbo. As you know my dream combination is AE300 with TKS.
