'Accident Case Study: Delayed Reaction' probes a tragic aircraft icing accident

摘要

"The airplane's encounter with unforecast severe icing conditions, which were characterized by high ice accretion rates, and the pilot's failure...to depart the icing conditions in an expeditious manner, resulted in a loss of airplane control." Those were the National Transportation Safety Board's sobering findings, which concluded its investigation of an ill-fated flight that ended a few short minutes after takeoff, ending the lives of a pilot, his wife, two children, and a business colleague. It is a chilling testimony to just how quickly things can go wrong in certain weather situations-even for an experienced, well-trained pilot flying a capable aircraft. At the time of the accident, the most prominent weather feature in the area was a cold front that had moved south across the region earlier that morning. Behind it lay a band of moisture that, in combination with freezing temperatures aloft, created the potential for dangerous icing conditions.