AMC1 CAT.OP.MPA.255 Ice and other contaminants – flight procedures    

CAA ORS9 Decision No. 1

FLIGHT IN EXPECTED OR ACTUAL ICING CONDITIONS — AEROPLANES

(a) In accordance with Article 2(a)5. of Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 216/2008 (Essential requirements for air operations), in case of flight into known or expected icing conditions, the aircraft must be certified, equipped and/or treated to operate safely in such conditions. The procedures to be established by the operator should take account of the design, the equipment, the configuration of the aircraft and the necessary training. For these reasons, different aircraft types operated by the same company may require the development of different procedures. In every case, the relevant limitations are those which are defined in the AFM and other documents produced by the manufacturer.

(b) The operator should ensure that the procedures take account of the following:

(1) the equipment and instruments which must be serviceable for flight in icing conditions;

(2) the limitations on flight in icing conditions for each phase of flight. These limitations may be imposed by the aircraft’s de-icing or anti-icing equipment or the necessary performance corrections that have to be made;

(3) the criteria the flight crew should use to assess the effect of icing on the performance and/or controllability of the aircraft;

(4) the means by which the flight crew detects, by visual cues or the use of the aircraft’s ice detection system, that the flight is entering icing conditions; and

(5) the action to be taken by the flight crew in a deteriorating situation (which may develop rapidly) resulting in an adverse effect on the performance and/or controllability of the aircraft, due to:

(i) the failure of the aircraft’s anti-icing or de-icing equipment to control a build-up of ice; and/or

(ii) ice build-up on unprotected areas.

(c) Training for dispatch and flight in expected or actual icing conditions. The content of the operations manual should reflect the training, both conversion and recurrent, which flight crew, cabin crew and all other relevant operational personnel require in order to comply with the procedures for dispatch and flight in icing conditions:

(1) For the flight crew, the training should include:

(i) instruction on how to recognise, from weather reports or forecasts which are available before flight commences or during flight, the risks of encountering icing conditions along the planned route and on how to modify, as necessary, the departure and in-flight routes or profiles;

(ii) instruction on the operational and performance limitations or margins;

(iii) the use of in-flight ice detection, anti-icing and de-icing systems in both normal and abnormal operation; and

(iv) instruction on the differing intensities and forms of ice accretion and the consequent action which should be taken.

(2) For the cabin crew, the training should include:

(i) awareness of the conditions likely to produce surface contamination; and

(ii) the need to inform the flight crew of significant ice accretion.