The icing is a bit more complex than just outside temperature, just the air rushing through the carburetor lowers the temperature. I always turned on the heat and left it on during a landing decent. I'm not sure how well it is modeled in game though, when ice melts the engine runs like crap till it is burned a way...I will have to see in game how the engine responds to an icing event/and then a deicing condition.

6C in the day? no i wouldn't of thought so.

If I remember right, the air going through a carb can be 50 degrees cooler than the outside air the plane is flying through.

Try an offline mission with heavy clouds, it has the effect of choking your engine to the point of being at a great disadvantage in a dogfight, and as I mentioned in an earlier post I haven't mapped a key or HOTAS button to the pitot heater yet. I think that's because I fly mostly online where clouds don't really feature at the moment. What I'd like to know is how effective the pitot heater is. Does anyone know how long it takes to get to an effective temperature, or if there is a disadvantage to keeping it on all the time 'just in case' you have to dive into cloud as an emergency measure?

The pilot heater should not affect performance even if left on, just to keep the windows clear...in game I would turn on the carburetor heat prior to entering a cloud, then turn off on your exit. I would turn on for any long decent such as preparing to land, then turn off when close to landing (this will give you max power if you need to do a go around, for the landing)...just for fun try this, enter a cloud with carburetor heat off, hand off throttle, take note of your RPM at entering..just keep watching your RPM to see if there is a drop...then turn on the heat and take note of the time till the RPM makes a rise to your set value.

Thanks for that Slipball, I'll try that.
You mentioned you have a little flying experience yourself in a previous post. What have you flown?

A Piper 140 but it was long ago when I could rent the aircraft for 10.00 per hour. The PA28 140 is the only aircraft that I ever piloted...try saying this three times



BUMMMFITCHH

The freezing issue is not solely related to outside temperaure, it is a reaction to fuel and air being pulled over a venturi such as those in a carburettor, the outside air temp can be well above zero and this will can still happen, especially if there is some moisture in the air to start with!

Craig

Interesting stuff, i never read anything about "BOB" pilots having freezing issues, and ive read about 50 books on the battle.
Maybe just a mundane point they never thought to write about.

Wouldn't that be because there is equipment on the plane to prevent it? We don't have frozen engines now, but planes fly even higher and faster than they did in 1940.

Slipball, the PITOT heater doesn't do anything for the windows, its for the pitot tube that measures the air-pressure for altitude, and I think the air velocity to determine IAS.

On the later model 109s, its the big long tube sticking out from the port wingtip.