CLEVELAND — As millions of people are getting ready to take off for spring break, safety is always top of mind.
So when you board a plane, think about this: Air travel is a precise calculation of engineering and weather, and of all the potential hazards the atmosphere may pose, ice buildup on a plane in flight is one of the most dangerous.
Most of the ice protection technologies in use today were developed with the help of a facility right here in Cleveland.
On Oct. 31, 1994, American Eagle flight 4184 — en route from Indianapolis to Chicago — encountered severe icing conditions while in a holding pattern for O'Hare Airport. The pilots lost control of the plane after ice built up on portions of the wings. All 68 on board were killed.
The NTSB found the plane had been flying in freezing rain, known as large, supercooled water droplets. At that time, no aircraft were tested for performance in that specific type of icing condition, so no rules or regulations were in place.
Recreating the natural variability of the atmosphere is no easy feat, but at NASA Glenn Research Center's Icing Research Tunnel, the sky is in reach.
"Instead of going through flight research — flying around, trying to find the conditions — we can create it on command here, which is a lot easier," NASA Glenn Mechanical Engineering Technical Lead Waldo Acosta explained.
Capable of cooling the air to 30 below zero and producing wind speeds of up to 374 miles per hour, it is the oldest and largest icing research lab in the world.
"We get anything ranging from researchers [to] anyone that just wants to see and investigate the physics, you know, icing physics," Emily Timko, an atmospheric icing tunnel characterization engineer, told 3News. "And then we also have aircraft manufacturers who are looking to test their de-icing, anti-icing systems and see how they're performing."
A huge fan circulates the air through massive banks of heat exchangers to drop the temperature. As the air is compressed into a considerably smaller 20-foot test section, it speeds up. At this point, spray bars add water — precision-controlled microscopic water droplets, different sizes for various conditions and tests, including large supercooled water droplets.
"We can also get a very dense cloud to where you can't see the other side of the tunnel," Timko said. "Or we can have a cloud that's just kind of like a light, wispy one that still could have icing effects on aircraft."
Ice — even in minute amounts — can change a plane's aerodynamics, and could be catastrophic.
"We need to make sure that when you're flying through those clouds, those drops that are hitting the wing, they don't freeze on the leading edge of the wing," Acosta noted. "They hit, they melt, and run back, or they hit and completely evaporate."
It is critical testing that saves lives, high science here on the ground to make sure you have a safe flight.
"The motto: 'We freeze to please,' and it is literally cool," Timko said. "It is very cold in there."