Build-up of ice on an aircraft’s structure, engines or sensors, which reduces lift, increases drag and can corrupt instrument readings.
What it is
It occurs mainly when an aircraft flies through cloud containing supercooled water droplets, which stay liquid below 0 °C and freeze on contact with a surface. Depending on droplet size and temperature, the ice may be opaque and brittle (rime) or clear and dense, which is harder to spot. Even a thin layer on the wing, as rough as coarse sandpaper, can noticeably reduce lift and increase drag.
On the ground, the clean aircraft concept applies: no take-off with ice, snow or frost adhering to critical surfaces. Crews have the aircraft sprayed with heated de-icing fluid, usually dyed orange, to remove deposits and often follow it with a thicker anti-icing fluid, generally green, that protects for a limited period known as the holdover time. In snow or frost, aircraft commonly pass through dedicated de-icing pads before departure.
Aircraft certified for flight in icing conditions carry protection: hot bleed air from the engines on wing leading edges and engine intakes, electrical heating on windscreens and probes and, on many turboprops, pneumatic boots that inflate to crack the ice away. Some recent designs, such as the Boeing 787, use electrical heater mats on the wings instead.
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This page was last updated on October 9, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 9). Icing. Retrieved October 20, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/icing
MLA
“Icing.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 9 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/icing. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Icing.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 9, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/icing.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Icing. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/icing (Accessed: 20 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_glossary_icing,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Icing}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-09},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/icing},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/icing}},
urldate = {2026-10-20},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-20}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/glossary/icing |title=Icing |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-09 |access-date=2026-10-20 |language=en}}