A German pilot gave me a bottle of this fluid some years ago but I never tried it
Apparently you are supposed to apply it to the leading edges and it repels ice.
No, it’s for boots only.
I have been applying IceX before flights with potential icing. I’m not so convinced it works as well as people say; I tried once to leave out a portion of the wing and could see no difference.
It’s just the nature of the beast. Even if you have perfect boots/TKS you will still be carrying ice on unprotected areas until it sublimes. On the DA62 this normally congregates around air intakes, the wing tips, the bottom of the fin and the antennas. That will cost you at least 5kts without thinking. I’ve seen a 20kt loss on Chieftains even with the boots working as advertised (OK, it was really nasty icing).
That said, I’m a bit surprised it took an hour to dissipate; I would expect maximum 20 minutes in clear air at ‘high-teens’ altitudes.
Peter wrote:
Does ICE-X work on normal metal leading edges?
I was wondering the same thing
denopa wrote:
I have been applying IceX before flights with potential icing. I’m not so convinced it works as well as people say; I tried once to leave out a portion of the wing and could see no difference.
Are your boots totally clean? Icex works in my experience only with clean and well treated boots. If they are dull looking then it wont really help.
I can’t remember what conditions they were in when I did that test. I still apply it anyway so I’ll have a chance to try again!
Peter wrote:
A German pilot gave me a bottle of this fluid some years ago
I’m curious which fluid it is on their website. They have “type 1” deicing fluid (which is used to remove ice, but they write it does not guarantee further protection), but nothing that looks like an ice repellent. The description is “orange”, so maybe that’s what you have. Their other fluids are listed as “colourless”.
Good article thanks for posting.
Does tks stop ice buildup as well as it does in cruise during climb/high aoa when the stagnation point is lower and aft?
