I’ve been on a now two month mission to traverse the edge of the Pacific through the American southwest, up through Alaska, then down through Russia and Japan. I only play in live time, weather, and all damage and icing on for realism, meaning as I now cross into BC, Canada, the warm weather planes I like, such as the Diamond DA40 and the Zlin Shock Ultra (for low AGL exploration) have become a little hard to keep in the air, if not mostly just for ice blocking windshield visibility if not crusting up the wings. I’ve tested out the Daher TBM 930, and certainly appreciate it’s speed and all the de-icing, but it’s a little too fast to fly around mountain valleys and has no skis for these tiny mountain runways. I’ve tested the new Pilatus Porter, and found while it handles well, it also doesn’t have a windshield defrost, or not one that seems to work well. My first landing in low visibility with the Porter resulted crashing into a building I couldn’t see while peering (in VR) through a palm-sized clear patch through the ice on my windshield.
Does anyone have good plane suggestions or tips on flying in frigid icy conditions? I’m not ready for any jet planes, and prefer slow maneuverable craft for sight-seeing. Why am I flying to the Arctic in the middle of the Northern winter? I’m not waiting til June.
I’ve been flying the skis Porter in Alaska. It’s not actually rated for icing and that tiny clear spot in the windshield is there with or without the so-called heat!
What I did find is that if i used the deice on my external Saitek pro switch panel, it would deice the windshield. So that was my solution.
Another vote for the Grravel. We did a long bush trip last year from WA, up to BC, all around Alaska and back again in her. Even went up Denali. Screen de-ice is on the pull lever next to the parking brake. Is still the go to bush plane for many.
Downloaded Savage Grravel a couple of days ago. This is an amazing little airplane. Powerful and handles well if one is not too ham-fisted on the stick. I made a series of flights from Anchorage up to Prudhoe Bay, AK … mostly IFR. Tracking the course for these flights was not too bad once I learned to do all the fine adjustments on surface trims and power settings. Even when the ice built up on wings and prop, the aircraft still handled pretty well. Definitely the best winter bush plane I have found.
Oh … one more thing … when faced with the need to climb quick to avoid mountain peaks, that Nitrous switch really comes in handy … power galore!
