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Columbia 400 pilot reported he was picking up ice and unable to maintain altitude. Pilot descended below MVA to get clear of clouds.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 1280472 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201507 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZLC.ARTCC |
| State Reference | UT |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Daylight |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Cessna 400 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Cruise |
| Route In Use | Direct |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Private Flight Crew Instrument |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 54 Flight Crew Total 1346 Flight Crew Type 656 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence |
Narrative:
I filed for 13;000 MSL and ATC wanted a climb to 15;000 for mountain clearance. (13;000 was VMC and 15;000 was IMC) at 15;000 I began picking up some rime ice (temp was -4C) so engaged my tks system and pitot heat. Tks took a few minutes to work and since airspeed decreased 10 knots and more; I tried to contact ATC to request lower. Since I could not contact ATC; another pilot radioed my request to descend to 13;000 and ATC did not want to allow. I said I had on-board terrain information and would be responsible for terrain clearance. I then told him I was descending to 13;000 to get out of clouds and he said I could have a VFR on top clearance which I accepted and came down to 13;000. I was now out of clouds and tks was removing ice; so after I was past the clouds I requested a climb back to 15;000 and rest of flight had no problems. I was given a number to call after landing which I called to explain situation and he did a good job of explaining why the MVA was 15;000 where I was flying.this problem was caused by ATC requiring me to climb to 15;000 and I now understand why. I'm thankful my plane has a tks system which helped remove the ice and prevent additional build-up. In the future I will avoid flying in clouds at -4C by requesting a deviation to clear clouds horizontally or by requesting vectors to remain at a VMC altitude authorized by ATC.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: Columbia 400 pilot reported he was picking up ice and unable to maintain altitude. Pilot descended below MVA to get clear of clouds.
Narrative: I filed for 13;000 MSL and ATC wanted a climb to 15;000 for mountain clearance. (13;000 was VMC and 15;000 was IMC) At 15;000 I began picking up some rime ice (temp was -4C) so engaged my TKS system and pitot heat. TKS took a few minutes to work and since airspeed decreased 10 knots and more; I tried to contact ATC to request lower. Since I could not contact ATC; another pilot radioed my request to descend to 13;000 and ATC did not want to allow. I said I had on-board terrain information and would be responsible for terrain clearance. I then told him I was descending to 13;000 to get out of clouds and he said I could have a VFR on top clearance which I accepted and came down to 13;000. I was now out of clouds and TKS was removing ice; so after I was past the clouds I requested a climb back to 15;000 and rest of flight had no problems. I was given a number to call after landing which I called to explain situation and he did a good job of explaining why the MVA was 15;000 where I was flying.This problem was caused by ATC requiring me to climb to 15;000 and I now understand why. I'm thankful my plane has a TKS system which helped remove the ice and prevent additional build-up. In the future I will avoid flying in clouds at -4C by requesting a deviation to clear clouds horizontally or by requesting vectors to remain at a VMC altitude authorized by ATC.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.