IFR flight into icing, FIKI system in action - Cirrus SR22

[@bensinger297]

That was a great video, It's really cool to see the de-icing stuff in action.

[@flysport_tedder]

0:47 christmas card photo.

[@RusscanFLY]

Hey Josh, so do you turn the system on right away, or do you wait until you actually start to see icing?

[@joshmc]

It has to be on before you go in the icing conditions, they call it “anti-ice” instead of “de-ice” to reinforce that point.

[@joshmc]

Boldmethod has a good in-depth look at the anti-ice system: www.boldmethod.com/learn-to-fly/systems/how-a-tks-anti-ice-system-works/

[@1dullgeek]

Knowing no more than how to spell FIKI, how do you know if it's working? What would be the signs that it wasn't working well enough?

[@joshmc]

Preflight, you hit the switch and make sure the pump runs and the wings get moist. In flight, you activate it and make sure you see TKS fluid on the leading edge before entering the clouds. In icing conditions, you just make sure the ice is shedding! There will often be "flashes" of icing that happen, and then the TKS kind of washes it away. I didn't have a camera on the wings in the icing, which would have been a better view of what's really going on, but the ice shedding up the windshield demonstrates it working as well.

[@flysport_tedder]

@@joshmc I'm not weeping, you're weeping.

[@joshmc]

@@flysport_tedder it’s the wing!

[@nhojcam]

FIKI should be relabeled as FOKI (Fly Out of Known Ice). TKS solution cannot handle moderate to heavy icing. FOKI is to abate ice only until you can get on the ground.

[@joshmc]

Absolutely, yes.