> On the 2nd of April 2012, a Russian airliner conducting a regional flight in Siberia ran into trouble immediately after taking off from the city of Tyumen. The plane swayed wildly from side to side as the pilots yelled over each other, seemingly unable to figure out what to do. Just one minute after takeoff, the ATR-72 plunged into a snow-covered field, cartwheeled, and burst into flames, killing 33 of the 43 people on board.
> As the pilots taxied the plane to the runway, Captain Antsin switched on the plane’s on-board de-icing systems. Although the de-icing systems were designed to be used in flight, not on the ground, there was technically no prohibition against this, and many pilots at UTair made a habit of turning the system on during taxi to check that it was functioning properly. The on-board de-icing system inflates rubber “boots” inside the leading edges of the wings and stabilizers to remove ice which accumulates there while in flight. But while the plane is parked, ice can build up across the entire upper wing surface, rather than just along the leading edge. The de-icing boots can’t remove ice that has formed behind the leading edges.
Ironically they were not used to deicing procedures partly because it is usually too cold there for ice to form on the ground. As I understand it you need a dew point and temperature of around zero, so that water will condense and freeze on the surface. Snow alone is no problem as it comes off, as I understand it.
https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/iced-out-the-crash-of-ut...
> On the 2nd of April 2012, a Russian airliner conducting a regional flight in Siberia ran into trouble immediately after taking off from the city of Tyumen. The plane swayed wildly from side to side as the pilots yelled over each other, seemingly unable to figure out what to do. Just one minute after takeoff, the ATR-72 plunged into a snow-covered field, cartwheeled, and burst into flames, killing 33 of the 43 people on board.
> As the pilots taxied the plane to the runway, Captain Antsin switched on the plane’s on-board de-icing systems. Although the de-icing systems were designed to be used in flight, not on the ground, there was technically no prohibition against this, and many pilots at UTair made a habit of turning the system on during taxi to check that it was functioning properly. The on-board de-icing system inflates rubber “boots” inside the leading edges of the wings and stabilizers to remove ice which accumulates there while in flight. But while the plane is parked, ice can build up across the entire upper wing surface, rather than just along the leading edge. The de-icing boots can’t remove ice that has formed behind the leading edges.
Ironically they were not used to deicing procedures partly because it is usually too cold there for ice to form on the ground. As I understand it you need a dew point and temperature of around zero, so that water will condense and freeze on the surface. Snow alone is no problem as it comes off, as I understand it.