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Technical Paper

Detection of Icing and Related Loss of Control Effectiveness in Regional and Corporate Aircraft

1999-04-20
1999-01-1583
This paper presents a method of detecting aircraft icing by monitoring its effects on aircraft dynamics. This paper shows that uncontrolled icing on control surfaces directly influences control effectiveness. Using data from onboard attitude and navigation sensors via highly computationally efficient algorithms, the control effectiveness is estimated, thereby detecting icing. Using actual flight test data from NASA Lewis Research Center, this paper demonstrates the ability of this method to detect the loss of elevator effectiveness that occurs with uncontrolled horizontal stabilizer icing that could result from a failed deicing boot. The method is generally applicable to loss of control effectiveness due to icing. Icing affects the aerodynamic performance of aircraft by contaminating the aerodynamic surfaces. Without anti-icing equipment icing, if sufficiently severe, can relatively quickly lead to a situation in which controllable flight is impossible.
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