Watch for AD on Caravan Airspeed System

Comments are due March 5 on an FAA proposal to require a low-airspeed awareness system on Cessna 208 and 208B Caravans. The installation will cancel the prohibition against operating the turboprop single in moderate or worse icing conditions. Meanwhile, ice was found on the leading-edge boots of the wings, elevators and vertical fin, the propeller boots and unprotected surfaces of a Caravan after it crashed and killed the pilot on February 8 in Alliance, Neb. “The ice accumulation was consistent with rime ice and the ice varied in thickness from one-tenth of an inch to one-eighth of an inch,” the Safety Board said. “The maximum amount of ice that was found on the airplane was on the right strobe light–about three-eighths of an inch on its leading surface.”