What is the minimum icing flight speed?

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Multiple Choice

What is the minimum icing flight speed?

In icing conditions you must fly at or above a minimum icing speed to keep enough lift and control as ice builds up on the surfaces. Ice increases weight and drag and raises the stall speed, so the safe flight speed in icing is higher than the clean-stall speed to maintain a margin above the point where the wing would stall. For this scenario, the minimum icing speed is 140 knots. That speed provides the necessary stall margin when ice can accumulate, ensuring you remain controllable and can maintain level flight. Speeds well below this, like 120 or 135 knots, would place you too close to the ice-affected stall boundary, increasing the risk of an uncontrollable stall. A higher value like 145 knots is more conservative than necessary for the minimum safe speed and would unnecessarily reduce performance, so 140 knots is the correct minimum.

In icing conditions you must fly at or above a minimum icing speed to keep enough lift and control as ice builds up on the surfaces. Ice increases weight and drag and raises the stall speed, so the safe flight speed in icing is higher than the clean-stall speed to maintain a margin above the point where the wing would stall.

For this scenario, the minimum icing speed is 140 knots. That speed provides the necessary stall margin when ice can accumulate, ensuring you remain controllable and can maintain level flight. Speeds well below this, like 120 or 135 knots, would place you too close to the ice-affected stall boundary, increasing the risk of an uncontrollable stall. A higher value like 145 knots is more conservative than necessary for the minimum safe speed and would unnecessarily reduce performance, so 140 knots is the correct minimum.

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