Has anyone had experience with airframe icing on the sportsman cuffs? I have a 73 182p and the wing does a pretty good job handling the little ice I find myself in on the rare occasion - but I do live in the PNW ice machine and fly IFR. I’m installing the Sportsman this fall and I’m wondering if the cuffs significantly change how the wing handles the ice? Any insight or experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Jeremy

Not directly, but I am picking up a new-to-me ship tomorrow that has Sportsman and VGs. Many people up here in southcentral AK run that combination VFR so I would be curious to know the answer too.

I’ve put a little more than I liked ice on a 185 wing with Sportsman, no VGs. No particular difference I noted, but it wasn’t a LOT of ice.

More to the point, there’s ice, and then there’s ICE . I don’t want to know how one of these things would handle severe ice……and most ANY icing can turn nasty quick. The proper response to airframe icing is get out of it! Soonest!

The Sportsman kit is a great modification, but frankly if you’re making this kind of decision based on the addition of a wing cuff, you may be flying the wrong airplane for the conditions.

For the record, airframe icing scares the crap out of me, and that’s based on experience.

MTV

Thanks for the response! I hear you on the icing - I have a bit of experience in it also and it scares the crap out of me as well! It is definitely something to not mess around with and escape out of ASAP!

Of course I definitely never plan on getting into it - but living in the Seattle area it does happen occasionally. I was just curious if the cuff had any nasty aerodynamic surprises with a little ice on it but it sounds like it doesn’t. Thanks again!

Jeremy