World’s Largest Snow Cone Machine | The JetAv Blog by Jack Schweibold.
During this record breaking heat wave in the Midwest it is easy to long for return to what was one of the two World’s Largest Ice Test Rigs. This one was located in Ottawa Canada, the other in Russia. Consisting of 761 spray nozzles mounted on a 75ft x 15ft array, it could be raised, lowered or turned to accommodate an aircraft wing or in this case a hovering Bell 206L3, Allison powered helicopter.
As water droplets were dispersed into ambient air at -5 degrees F or lower into a light wind of 3 to 8 knots, the trailing super-cooled cloud produced here duplicates the heaviest moisture found in our atmosphere. By air-taxiing beneath the cloud we pulled the moisture over the engine inlets, in 30 seconds, power required to hover doubled. When blade angle was reduced to land, one blade shed its ice and so unbalanced the main rotor it was going to self-destruct in 3-4 revolutions . . . when the other blade shed its load through vibration the system regained balance just before touchdown! We learned more in one day of test in this wonderful machine then in 30 years of chasing snow across North America. Unfortunately, like many test facilities it fell prey to an accountants ax in 1985.
So as you buy this year’s snow cone to quench a desert thirst, remember its big brother up in Canada … it helped teach our industry how to protect current aircraft from ice and snow.