Aircraft flight characteristics in icing conditions

Abstract

Aircraft flight dynamic characteristics can be greatly changed by ice accretion, which has been considered a considerable threat to aircraft flight safety for a long time. An overview of the studies on several ice accretion effects on aircraft flight dynamics is presented here. Special attention is paid to the following areas: ways to obtain the aerodynamic data of iced aircraft, flight dynamic modeling and simulation for iced aircraft, effects of ice accretion on aircraft stability and control as well as on flight performance and aircraft icing envelope protection and control adaption. Finally based on the progress of existing research in these areas, some key issues which deserve more attention for researchers to resolve are addressed, including obtaining aerodynamic data of iced aircraft through numerical simulation method, consummating the existing calculation models about effects of ice accretion on aircraft aerodynamic derivatives and enhancing the investigation on problems of tailplane ice accretion.