FIKI For The Tecnam P2012

The deicing system on the company’s light twin is a serious hedge against the frozen stuff

The Tecnam P2012 has FIKI. The company announced that its twin would get flight into known icing (FIKI) certification at the same time as the plane earns its type certification, which it expects by the end of 2018.

The P2012 is an eleven-seat, high-wing, fixed-gear, twin hauler powered by a pair of 375-hp Lycoming TEO-540 engines. Tecnam's launch customer is Cape Air, which signaled its intentions to buy 100 of the planes to replace its aging and increasingly expensive to maintain fleet of Cessna cabin-class twins. Cape Air, the largest independent airline in the United States, will use the P2012s to provide scheduled air service at locations around the world.

Courtesy of Tecnam

The FIKI certification was a tall order. The system Tecnam chose for the P2012---CAV Ice Protection's TKS system---uses a titanium strip drilled with millions of tiny holes through which deicing fluid gets pumped. TKS is familiar to many pilots, as it is installed in thousands of high performance singles.

The TKS system has both an anti- and de-ice capabilities. It works on the "weeping-wing" concept, where an ethylene glycol-based fluid (TKS fluid) is dispersed from panels mounted on aircraft surfaces. The fluid flows over the surfaces, lowering the freezing point of liquid water it comes into contact with. It can also "chemically break down the bond between the ice and airframe, allowing the aerodynamic forces on the ice to carry it away."

FIKI is a certified system that allows the pilot to transit known icing conditions, so redundancy and capability are a must. The system on the P2012 features dual pumps, separated electrical systems, protected wing, horizontal and vertical tail surfaces, as well as deicing for the windshield and for the props. The system also has multiple flow rates, deicing fluid tank capacity gauges and a push button that sends fluid to the windshield in four-second bursts while the pilot pushes the button down.

The first production P2012s are scheduled to go to Cape Air in early 2019.

Learn more at Tecnam.


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