Icing effects and the proper pilots reaction

[metzgergva 210]

Hello,

Some of you have reported performance issues of the CRJ, especially during climb. Many of you fly with actual weather or weather generated by weather programs and Online. This is great to see! We have checked one more time the flight performance of the aircraft within its flight envelope and with ISA temperature and no humidity, the our CRJ flies very much as the real aircraft versus data we have available.

 

So let me try to explain what may have happened on flights where you have experienced performance issues. I will not repeat the issue of legacy flight model or wrong CoG. Please see the other postings. We focus here on the effects of icing, how it is simulated and how you can safely fly the CRJ in such conditions.

 

1. Icing in MSFS is currently simulated as it was in FSX, despite the weather engine is much more sophisticated, but it basically puts additional weight on the aircraft, and at 100% icing it is a lot!
    
2. To avoid the aircraft gets significantly heavier with consequence of losing speed, pitching up, unable to climb, it is essential that you let icing not happen to you in flight. It is pilots judgment on the situation, corrective measurements suporter by a function ice probe that alerts with an Ice warning if a low level of icing is exceeded.
    
3. Our tests clearly indicate that, even if you set Icing to [Visual Only], the weight addition is still there with al the consequences described above.
    
4. So if you are flying in weather conditions that may cause Icing (i.E visible clouds), the first step is to switch on Cowling Anti-ice before you fly into the humidity of fog or clouds or snowfall.
    
5. If the Ice Warning is coming ON, you must activate in addition Wing Anti-Ice (WAI). With both active you should be protected. BUT in CLB or CRZ the maximum N1 and by that the thrust power is reduced by the FADEC as a consequence of using Bleed-Air for heating the surfaces. In very high Flight Levels with WAI on, for example FL250 and above, this is a significant loss of power and you can see the the target CLB N1 is reduced by a couple of %, which limits the CRJ's capacity to climb or hold speed versus non icing conditions and action against. 
    
6. Assure that during CLB you do not fly below the normal climb speeds which are 250 knots or 0.74 mach. By aware that the CRJ flies in all regimes with a more flat pitch attitude as you may know from your usual airliner.
    
7. Observe the FD and the actual pitch and if the start to deviate, you need to take corrective actions as oither wise you fly straight into a stall situation.

 

I hope these explanations are useful and will allow you to enjoy flying our CRJ- not only in sunshine weather