Heard of them? Well I hadn't until the Gulf Flight Safety Committee meeting in Doha last week, at which Bill Hunt from Boeing, (in his inimatable style) told us all about them. They are to be found in the less dense cloud formations surrounding and above cumulo-nimbus clouds - they look a bit like a wispy cap or collar on the cloud - above the altitude at which you would expect to encounter icing from super-cooled water droplets. The crystals are very small, similar to the size of bread flour, and cannot be detected by radar. Flying through them produces what appears to be rain on the windscreen but with a sound uncharacteristic to rain.
Doesn't seem too bad then. Until you hear that numerous recent engine failures have been attributed to encounters with these crystals, one involving seven consecutive failures. Apparently, concentrations of the crystals impinge upon warm sections at the front of the engine, melting and thereby cooling the structure. Once those parts of the engine have cooled below 0 degrees, the crystals begin to attach and accrete, disrupting the gas path and potentially causing stall, surge or engine failure.
The message was a simple one - don't fly over or close to CBs in cloud when at altitude. It almost certainly consists of these crystals.
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