Narrative:

Today's flight was a standard one until center asked if we could land in freezing rain as we approached ZZZ. This was a surprise because none was forecasted. I knew we couldn't take off in known or forecasted fzra (freezing rain) or fzdz (freezing drizzle); but I wasn't sure about landing. So I looked it up and sure enough it is prohibited as well. We switched over to approach and informed them we couldn't land in fzra and they instructed us to hold over zzzzz as published. We were at 15;000 feet; 160 kts; and there were two caravans already in the holding pattern. One; a thousand feet below and another at two-thousand feet below us. There was a 55 to 60 kt crosswind over the holding area at our altitude. We tried to get the garmin 750 to hold at the waypoint for more than one turn but it kept sequencing us into the approach. So I elected to use the heading bug; with the autopilot on; to conduct the hold. Plus the autopilot couldn't hold the inbound track on the localizer due to the high winds. I found that a 20 degree wind correction angle was necessary for the inbound leg. In addition; in order to conserve fuel we asked for 10 nm long legs and that two we couldn't get the garmin to do so it was up to me to make the corrections on each leg. Fortunately all of the bad weather was below us and we were night VMC in the hold. After approximately 4 turns in the hold; approach said the fzra is now light snow. He started sequencing the other two caravans for the approach. We got our clearance to maintain our outbound heading of 250 and 15;000 feet until he was ready for us. When we were cleared for the approach we were 5 nm outside of zzzzz and cleared down to 11;000 feet. We were supposed to cross zzzzz at 8;300 feet. So I asked [first officer] aren't we cleared for the approach? He said yes so I selected vertical speed and 2;400 fpm to get on glide slope. With throttles at flight idle we still accelerated to over 210 kts. Approach called and said we had a 100 kt overtake on the caravan in front of us. So I selected props 100% and still didn't slow us enough so approach told us to level off at 6;000 feet and canceled the approach clearance. I was searching for the altitude hold button on the autopilot control panel. I have been out of the cockpit for so long I had forgotten where it was and while I was looking for it is when I got the stick shaker alert. I immediately added power and lowered the nose to about 5;800 feet and recovered back to 6;000 feet. I asked [first officer] what was the air-speed and he said 125 kts. So we took vectors back to start the approach again and requested to climb back up to 9;000 feet. As we climbed the icing just got worse. I told him most clouds contain the most moisture at their cloud tops and it would be better for us to descend and resume the approach. We are spending too much time in heavy icing conditions. So the request was made and I leveled off at 9;000 feet and turned left to 060 to intercept the localizer and I got the stick shaker again. This time I did see 125 kts. I recovered again and resumed the approach. From that point on it was a normal approach to landing. When I did my walk around the airplane was coated in thick ice. The worst that I have seen in three years.situational awareness. Keep the scan moving. Ask for help from the other pilot such as 'please select altitude hold for me.'

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: ATR 42 flight crew reported severe icing during approach that resulted in multiple stick shaker warnings.

Narrative: Today's flight was a standard one until Center asked if we could land in freezing rain as we approached ZZZ. This was a surprise because none was forecasted. I knew we couldn't take off in known or forecasted FZRA (Freezing Rain) or FZDZ (Freezing Drizzle); but I wasn't sure about landing. So I looked it up and sure enough it is prohibited as well. We switched over to Approach and informed them we couldn't land in FZRA and they instructed us to hold over ZZZZZ as published. We were at 15;000 feet; 160 kts; and there were two Caravans already in the holding pattern. One; a thousand feet below and another at two-thousand feet below us. There was a 55 to 60 kt crosswind over the holding area at our altitude. We tried to get the Garmin 750 to hold at the waypoint for more than one turn but it kept sequencing us into the approach. So I elected to use the heading bug; with the autopilot on; to conduct the hold. Plus the autopilot couldn't hold the inbound track on the localizer due to the high winds. I found that a 20 degree wind correction angle was necessary for the inbound leg. In addition; in order to conserve fuel we asked for 10 nm long legs and that two we couldn't get the Garmin to do so it was up to me to make the corrections on each leg. Fortunately all of the bad weather was below us and we were night VMC in the hold. After approximately 4 turns in the hold; approach said the FZRA is now light snow. He started sequencing the other two caravans for the approach. We got our clearance to maintain our outbound heading of 250 and 15;000 feet until he was ready for us. When we were cleared for the approach we were 5 nm outside of ZZZZZ and cleared down to 11;000 feet. We were supposed to cross ZZZZZ at 8;300 feet. So I asked [First Officer] aren't we cleared for the approach? He said yes so I selected vertical speed and 2;400 fpm to get on glide slope. With throttles at flight idle we still accelerated to over 210 kts. Approach called and said we had a 100 kt overtake on the Caravan in front of us. So I selected props 100% and still didn't slow us enough so approach told us to level off at 6;000 feet and canceled the approach clearance. I was searching for the altitude hold button on the autopilot control panel. I have been out of the cockpit for so long I had forgotten where it was and while I was looking for it is when I got the stick shaker alert. I immediately added power and lowered the nose to about 5;800 feet and recovered back to 6;000 feet. I asked [First Officer] what was the air-speed and he said 125 kts. So we took vectors back to start the approach again and requested to climb back up to 9;000 feet. As we climbed the icing just got worse. I told him most clouds contain the most moisture at their cloud tops and it would be better for us to descend and resume the approach. We are spending too much time in heavy icing conditions. So the request was made and I leveled off at 9;000 feet and turned left to 060 to intercept the localizer and I got the stick shaker again. This time I did see 125 kts. I recovered again and resumed the approach. From that point on it was a normal approach to landing. When I did my walk around the airplane was coated in thick ice. The worst that I have seen in three years.Situational awareness. Keep the scan moving. Ask for help from the other pilot such as 'please select ALT HOLD for me.'

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.