Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight

OLV Air Asia - Kuala Lumpur
20 - 24 September 2010
Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight

Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat
Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Recent in-flight events review
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Operational consequences
Increase in number of events: Hypothesis
AIRBUS S.A.S. All rights reserved. Confidential and proprietary document.
Way forward
Short term improvements
International Industry Working Group
Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 2

Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Way forward

Icing conditions: Definition
As per the FCOM 3.04.30 definition, in flight, icing conditions

may be expected when:
The TAT is 10C or below,
AND
There is visible moisture in the air (such as clouds, fog with
low visibility of one mile or less, rain, snow, sleet, ice crystals)
Except in climb and cruise if SAT is If indication that the airframe is icing up
below 40C: (ice detector or ice on wipers):
ENGINE ANTI ICE ON WING ANTI ICE ON

Icing conditions: Recent in-flight events
Airbus fly-by-wire fleet experienced new type of engine

events linked to specific icing conditions:
Engine flameout affecting GE CF6-80E1
Engine damage affecting RR T500
Number of events have drastically increased the last few

months
Almost all events have been associated to the presence of

ICE CRYSTALS
Such phenomenon affects all aircraft manufacturers

Engine events location on GE CF6-80C engines


GE CF6-80C Events
Black: Single engine flameout

Red : Dual engine flameout
: Airbus A300-600 engine flameout
Engine events location on GE CF6-80E and RRT500 engines

A ~60% of
F 1 C events
3 D

E

Airbus A330 CF6-80E Airbus A340-500/600
2
Engine(s) Flameout
RR T500 B

# Date Alt Engine(s) Damage

A Nov-04 18,000 # Date
B Oct-05 16,000 1 Mar-06
C Jun-06 20,000
D Jun-06 19,000 2 Nov-06
E Jun-06 19,000 3 Jan-07
F Aug-06 33,000
Events usually in the vicinity of convective activity

Examples
Event A: Event E:
Tokyo - Nov 2004 - 18 000 feet Miami June 2006 19 000 feet

Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Way forward

Ice crystals: Weather description
The convection is a strong circulation between ascending

warm air and descending cold air, in an unstable atmosphere.
The main characteristics of a deep convective weather are

therefore:
Deep convective clouds

Cumulonimbus
Mesoscale Convective Complexes
Storms

Wind, windshear, turbulences,

microburst
Heavy rain, hail, icing
Lightning

Classical icing conditions are encountered in such

convective weather:
Super-cooled liquid droplet freezes when in contact with cold
aircraft surface
Typically, when temperature is between 0 and 15C, and,
in deep convective conditions, down to 40C.
Ice is building-up on aircraft airframe

Ice crystals differ from classical icing conditions:

Very small crystals of frozen water, from millimeter to some
microns
Produced when humidity is lifted up very rapidly to high
altitude, where it freezes immediately.
In very active convective weather:
High humidity concentration Important air circulation
High ice crystals concentration Ice crystals blown up and down
- Ice crystals may be encountered at temperature far below 40C

- High concentration at the top of the convective cloud
- Near freezing level, mix of super-cooled liquid droplets and ice crystals
may be encountered
Convective cloud diagram
High concentration of Ice Crystals

FL 350 -40C
23 000 ft -15C
16 000 ft Freezing Level

Super-cooled
Liquid droplet
Ice crystals

Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Way forward

Ice crystals: Detection
Aircraft Weather Radar Detection
Only detects precipitation
Detection depends on droplets:
Size: very small droplets cannot

be detected
Number: Higher concentration has a better reflectivity
Composition: Wet droplets have better reflectivity than dry droplets

Ice crystal: Detection
Aircraft Weather Radar Detection

Reflectivity
Super-cooled
Liquid droplet
Ice crystal
Ice crystals may not be detected by the weather radar

Ice crystal: Detection
Other possible detection means

Ice crystals bounce against very cold surface:
No ice accretion on aircraft airframe
Not detected by aircraft ice detector
Sometimes, flight crew reports visual phenomenon

Precipitation on the windshield, similar to rain
Often associated to light turbulences
Saint Elm fire rarely reported
Ice crystal not easily detectable in flight

Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Way forward

Ice Crystals: Operational Consequences
General ice crystals accretion process theory

Local Air Temperature
0C 30C
Metal temperature
Ice crystals only accrete on warm metal surface
Ice crystals may be threat to engines

On Airbus Fly-by-Wire aircrafts, ice crystals led to:

Engine flameout on GE CF6-80E1 engines
Engine blade damage on RR T500 engines
All events have roughly the same characteristics:

Flight near convective weather
In almost all cases, low engine thrust (during descent)

TAT sometimes erroneously indicated 0C just before the

events, since ice crystals accumulate on warm de-iced area
of the TAT probe
Most of the time, flight crew did not detect ice building-up on
airframe
Ice crystals accretion within engines
GE engines theory
1 Ice crystals accretion
2 Ice shed during power increase for example
3 Ice travels into core as VBV doors are closing
VBV door
2
3

GE engines theory Contd

4 Ice changes state thru HPC, melting, evaporation
5 Combustor inlet air temperature depressed, combustor efficiency drops
6 Flameout occurs followed by automatic engine relight

5
6
4

RR engines theory
1 Ice crystals accrete from VSV1 to Stator 3

1
R1 R2 R3 R4

RR engines theory Contd

2 Ice sheds and impacts IPC2 causing tip damage
3 Ice shed impacts IPC4 blade
4 IPC4 blade vibrates from ice impact and leading edge strikes
Stage 3 stator, causing immediate blade release or damage
2 3 4
R1 R2 R3 R4


For both cases, OEBs have been published to mitigate the
consequences of ice crystals accretion
First recommendation is to avoid flying near convective weather.

Then, if icing conditions are expected during the descent
(including ice crystals), at top of descent:
R1 R2 R3 R4
GE ENGINES RR ENGINES
Select the Select the ENG ANTI ICE
- ENG ANTI ICE ON and ON, to increase the engine
- WING ANTI ICE ON core temperature which
to increase the fuel/air ratio may prevent ice accretion
which may prevent flameout
Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Way forward

Several hypothesis are contemplated with regards to:

Air traffic increase
More prone to occur in Asia Pacific region in which traffic
increases a lot
Example for the

A330 GE CF6-80E1
IST
CTS
PEK SDJ
ICN KIX ICN
FUK PUS NRT
NRT RUH DEL
PVG NGO
FUK KIX HNL
DOH
TPE XMN OKA
HKG AUH BOM MFMCAN
HKG
TPE
BKK KHH
BKK MNL
MNL SGN
CEB PPSCEB
SGN
PPS DVO DVO
KUL
SIN SIN
GES GES
CGK CGK
PPT
SUB DPS DRW
CNS
NOU
BNE
PER
SYD AKL
ADL SYD
MEL MEL
2002 2006
17 airports served 49 airports served
230 weekly freqs Weekly frequencies are those of July, 1039 weekly freqs
except for 2006 (May)
Traffic in Asia Pacific have multiplied almost by 5 the last 5 years


Air traffic increase Contd
Number of aircraft increases a lot also
More severe ATC constraints leading flight crew to have less

flexibility to avoid flying near convective weather.
Longer approach flight duration, leading to longer flight through

possible icing conditions.


Meteorological changes:
Global earth warming leads to more water lift up at high altitude
For route with heavy traffic,

ice crystal produced by aircraft
accumulates at high altitude
Still speculation but could aggravate the situation in the future

Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Way forward

Way forward: Short term improvements
For GE engines:
FADEC software (E1O STD) modifies the VBV logics
VBV is more open at low engine thrust:

Better ice extraction from the engine core
Increase in flameout margin
Service Bulletin availability: June 2007
For RR engines:
New blade design, more robust to ice shed impact
Service Bulletin availability: End 2007

Content
Icing conditions
Definition
Ice crystals
Weather description
Detection
Way forward

Way forward : International Industry Working Group
An Industrial Working group has been created with:
Aircraft Manufacturers Engine Manufacturers

National Agencies Probes Manufacturers

4 different working tasks have been defined:
Task 1: Improved instrumentation to measure atmosphere
Task 2: Flight trials to characterize atmosphere (understand

particle size, concentration and extent)
Task 3: Fundamental physics of ice accretion and shedding

Task 4: Test methods and facilities

The aim of this working group is to develop means to:

ANTICIPATE
By a better understanding of the meteorological phenomenon to
better anticipate it at flight dispatch
DETECT
By developing probes to allow in-flight detection of crystals
DESIGN more robust engines

By a better understanding of the ice accretion/shedding process
By developing experimental processes and accurate simulations

By developing facilities to test the engines (ice crystals wind
tunnel)

Conclusion
Ice crystals may be a threat to the engines and cannot be

detected by conventional aircraft on-board instruments.
Specific operational procedures have been designed to

cover the RR T500 and GE CF6-80E1 events.
Short term fix should be available within the end of the

year
For long term, studies are on-going to better characterize

this icing phenomenon and enhance:
Prevention
Engine design
Detection

Conclusion
Meanwhile, basic airmanship may help avoiding flying

through ice crystals:
As far as possible:
A cumulonimbus should be cleared by 20NM upwind at least.
Avoid flying over convective weather
Use radar tilt to detect possible convective weather below

the aircraft position.
Effective Flight Crew awareness is necessary

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight

Încărcat de

Informații document

Drepturi de autor

Formate disponibile

Partajați acest document

Partajați sau inserați document

Opțiuni de partajare

Vi se pare util acest document?

Este necorespunzător acest conținut?

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight

Încărcat de

Drepturi de autor:

Formate disponibile

OLV Air Asia - Kuala Lumpur

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight

International Industry Working Group

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 2

International Industry Working Group

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 3

As per the FCOM 3.04.30 definition, in flight, icing conditions

ENGINE ANTI ICE ON WING ANTI ICE ON

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 4

Airbus fly-by-wire fleet experienced new type of engine

Engine flameout affecting GE CF6-80E1

Engine damage affecting RR T500

Number of events have drastically increased the last few

Almost all events have been associated to the presence of

Such phenomenon affects all aircraft manufacturers

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 5

Engine events location on GE CF6-80C engines

Black: Single engine flameout

Engine events location on GE CF6-80E and RRT500 engines

Events usually in the vicinity of convective activity

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 8

International Industry Working Group

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 9

The convection is a strong circulation between ascending

The main characteristics of a deep convective weather are

Deep convective clouds

Wind, windshear, turbulences,

Heavy rain, hail, icing

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 10

Classical icing conditions are encountered in such

Ice is building-up on aircraft airframe

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 11

Ice crystals differ from classical icing conditions:

High ice crystals concentration Ice crystals blown up and down

- Ice crystals may be encountered at temperature far below 40C

High concentration of Ice Crystals

16 000 ft Freezing Level

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 13

International Industry Working Group

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 14

Aircraft Weather Radar Detection

Only detects precipitation

Detection depends on droplets:

Size: very small droplets cannot

Number: Higher concentration has a better reflectivity

Composition: Wet droplets have better reflectivity than dry droplets

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 15

Aircraft Weather Radar Detection

Ice crystals may not be detected by the weather radar

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 16

Other possible detection means

Not detected by aircraft ice detector

Sometimes, flight crew reports visual phenomenon

Often associated to light turbulences

Saint Elm fire rarely reported

Ice crystal not easily detectable in flight

International Industry Working Group

Operation in Icing Conditions in Flight - Ice Crystals: An Environmental Threat Page 18

General ice crystals accretion process theory

Ice crystals only accrete on warm metal surface

Ice crystals may be threat to engines

On Airbus Fly-by-Wire aircrafts, ice crystals led to:

Engine blade damage on RR T500 engines

All events have roughly the same characteristics: