NASA · Aviation Safety Reporting System
TBM pilot reported the aircraft started to vibrate during climb in icing conditions. Pilot descended to warmer conditions which caused the propeller to sling off accumulated ice and the vibrations to stop.
What is ASRS?
The Aviation Safety Reporting System is NASA's voluntary, confidential, non- punitive incident-reporting system, established 1976. Pilots, controllers, dispatchers, and maintenance technicians file reports describing safety- relevant events. NASA de-identifies every report before adding it to the public database. Reports are not investigated by NASA, the FAA, or the NTSB — they represent the reporter's perspective.
Pilot narrative
Verbatim from the de-identified NASA record. First-person account by the
reporter. NASA strips identifying details (names, company, specific time);
anonymization placeholders are ZZZ,
X, Y.
As I climbed to altitude in IMC I encountered light rime icing between FL200 and FL280 temps -5 to -22 C. Climb performance was decreased from use of the inertial separator. Deicing equipment was all turned on and working properly. Vibration of the airplane arose and was unexplained. I changed the propeller RPM and found the vibration to worsen. The CAS did not show any abnormality but because of the vibration it was decided that immediate descent and landing were appropriate. I [requested priority] and started a descent to ZZZ1 the nearest large airport. As I descended through VMC and warmer temperatures I saw the propeller sling ice off to the side and the vibration immediately disappeared. It was obvious to me what the cause and resolution to the vibrations were. The propeller had accumulated an unbalanced ice load causing the vibration. Once it had warmed the ice had melted off and the problem was resolved. I notified ATC via ZZZ Approach and asked to continue to original destination of ZZZ2. After landing I contacted my training CFI who confirmed that this was a normal procedure and information for future flights.
NASA classification — Anomalies
- Aircraft Equipment Problem
- Deviation - Altitude
- Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural
- Inflight Event / Encounter
NASA classification — Assessments
- Contributing Factors / Situations
- Weather
- Primary Problem
- Weather
ASRS reports are voluntarily submitted, de-identified by NASA, and represent the reporter's perspective. The presence of reports on a topic cannot be used to infer prevalence in the National Airspace System. The authoritative source is the NASA ASRS Database Online at asrs.arc.nasa.gov ↗.