ICE DANGER TO FLYING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 137, 26 June 1937, Page 11

ICE DANGER TO FLYING

fr; -Device For Safety Vt'anled

• ' So many.recent- fiying disasters have • been .attributed vto- the. : fcrmation of ic'e : bn wings - and-. propellers - that • this "has* .bbcome>;n(kquestion''"of -urgent - Im,por tarice, Vand '.thefa"ct - that a contriw> "ance ■ known - as the de-icer. is used on many American and ' European,". andr on .some British air Jlnes, . but* not by Imperial Airways, provokes surprise, *" - It *is rclqimed that as least "three rc-l cent accidents : on the Continent "due *to' ice formation occurred -tb nm'raft yfit--ted- with de-icers, and that reliance upon "a" contrivance which at 'the- criticai moment may fail may lead to disaster," " . •• If ice-forming condiMou could at all times be forecast the solution would be simple. It would merely be necessary to cancel the intended flight. This, however, is not always possible, and not always done. A reason for not adopting the deicer on some types of aircraft has b"een put forward. The machines concerned are biplanes with wings of somewhat thin section, and it is true ..that the de-ieer in common use is not easily adaptable to tliem as to deepseetion wings. The older aircraft. in the service oi' Imperial Airways are biplanes with' thin-section wings. The- new big fly;; ing boats and land aeroplanes are moaoplanes with deep-section wings, but".

'still Imperial Air.ways , awaits ia'. dencef of ^greater reliabilitry. > '• . 1 i The • most commonlyi tisod?dp-icer,. is a strip of rubber tube,-; along the llead* ing ,-edgo - of 'the ."utipg,- whiclb ,i"by »• .movement^due ito , pMsated'.ViMafiqn, -causetf ice to break as.soon" w itifqrms. As iTegards the propellers, ' • .» *;devic» which .sprays.the vifal paTt; of the;pro "peller^ blades With a .chemicaL.pfevent*^ ice Torming." ' . . • ' * ' : . ;.The, danger due. to. ice formation iif *nqtsov;.much.'the - ^dbd '.weighti'as the def ormation-of . ;'thec;Biisential '.shape ; oi wiiig or propellef blade, redi.cing thoit ' effieiency, '.and • in - the case of . wings or -.control" surfaces npsetting the functioii to such an extent that the control*; & actuated by the pilot become ineffect* ive and even misleading. • In the case of the disaster to tlv| Capricornus, or rather m sucb a predicament as the pilot oi that rnachin* may have found liimsaif in, it is con-« ceivable "tliat flxe fl.y*io,g boat would have been taken to a irrauter b.eigh# than the tops of the l.'ili, rislring ic* formation in the colder air, if ihe machine had been equippcd witli1 de-ioirs. That • situat-ion may, at.. any rate, occur at other times and plyees. Climbing to a greater height, and . risklri.g* the . po'ssibility that', the de-icer might ■not function acleciuatelv, would be tlie ■ • ■, ' f lesser 'of two evils m a gruio eme'f-j; .gencyli ri •