I don’t understand the problem of pitot tube icing because they have heaters in them and they will get hot enough to burn the crap out of you on the ground.
“I don’t understand the problem of pitot tube icing because they have heaters in them and they will get hot enough to burn the crap out of you on the ground.”
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There was a thread on this accident, all day yesterday.
I questioned the idea of the pitot freezing and some CLAIM that there was no pitot heaters on those Airbus planes.
That is almost impossible to believe.
My simple planes all had heated pitot tubes.
I also pointed out that the first thing any student pilot knows is to push the stick forward in a stall, but I got a lot of mumbo jumbo about that, too. Oh well.
As with any other instance dealing with heaters/coolers, they are only designed to inject or remove so many BTU. Temperature is only half of the equation, time is the second factor. If ambient air removes the heat faster than the element can replace it, it loses the war and can't keep up... just like the A/C in your car. It can put out enough cold air to freeze you into hypothermia under the right conditions, but try staying cool with 90 degree outside temps and the windows rolled down. Same thing...
Had a pitot tube failure om my Cardinal-RG after an annual. The heater burned though the Polyethelene tubing for the airspeed indicator.
Since I was close enough, I used the DME indicated airspeed until I entered downwind and felt my way down to a hot landing ............................ FRegards