Didn’t see this posted.
Can this pic be real?
STORY
http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/unusual-attitude/Snow%20pic.jpg
I don’t think it is.
I wouldnt take off!
I dont know from experience because i’ve always de-iced! We were all taught in school that you will never gain enough lift to take off with frost or disruption of airflow over the wings, i believed them and im never going to test the theory!!
Looks fake to me.
Snow doesn’t even look disturbed from the wind flow over the wing. I would expect to see some type of striations in the “so called snow” especially for as high as the plane looks in the picture. Sublimination should have made most of that snow dissapear also in the dry air as far as it appears they were away from the clouds below the wing.
Also, looking to the lower left of the picture, along the flap line, snow doesn’t look disturbed. Aren’t flaps checked or lowered before takeoff?
Thirdly, aren’t the wings internally heated for icing issues and that little bit of snow been melted at ground level?
The only thing I could see that would make this possible is if he flew through hell (figuratively) and there was so much precip that it accumulated. It would’ve been clean on departure. It would have to be stuck with ice from freezing rain and snow was so heavy that it stuck to the freezing rain. Freezing rain would be the only wet (thus sticky) precip that would be able to accumulate.,because at the speed this thing is travelling, it would otherwise be removed.
I first thought maybe it was frost, but it is too thick for that, plus at that altitude, and those temps, it wouldn’t form, not including again, the speed.On the ground, especially on a warmer day, the cold fuel cools the wing skin down, and it condenses, and you’ll find a LOT of frost under the wings even on a 70 degree day.
Allen, the wings are heated, but only at the leading edge. Since most icing occurs from impact with the moisture, the leading edges are heated, but theres not much in the way of ice that forms beyond the leading edges (unless the leading edge heat is not used, OR, we’re talking freezing rain or other heavy freezing precip very close to freezing temp).
So the short of my theory, IT would’ve had to have been some EXTREME close to freezing temp, probably freezing rain followed immediately by snow)precip he flew through . BUT, I don’t see the freezing rain below it.
I guess I should read before I write. After having read the article. I think it could be real. Not saying it IS, but could be. Imagine your car being covered by an over night snow fall. Underneath the snowfall , when the temp is close to freezing, the insulation of the show will allow the bottom to melt (usually because of the surface temp being higher) , but as the overnight temp drops, the snow at the bottom refreezes and it becomes stuck to the surface. You broom off the fluffy snow at the top, but there’s still a bit frozen to the surface.
I’m not saying thats what is going on here, and the snow looks pretty clean and fluffy, and like I said in my other post, I don’t see the ice that is bonding it to the surface, but it is possible.
When there is alot of snow on an aircraft, alot of times you will broom off the majority, and then allow the heated glycol to melt that ice on the surface. Spraying glycol on a pile of snow, only makes a glycol snocone.
So in a way, it almost looks like the aircraft was broomed but not sprayed.
BUT! What crew in their right mind would want to t/o like that, and my question would be what is the motive to do so.
Looking at the photo above, it doesn’t look like snow. It looks more like clouds. Perhaps it was a double exposure, a Photoshpped picture, or a highly reflective wing that captured clouds from above.
Not an expert on icing by any stretch of the imagination, but I could see that being rime icing from pictures I have seen, but never have I seen it span the top of the wing, usually leading edges so in some ways it’s plausible that the stuff was on the wing before takeoff. Flyboy just came of an icing situation, hopefully he will chime in.
Which explains why the leading edge is nice and clean and you can see “striations” on the leading part of the white. The theory of icing in my mind would make sense though looking at the clouds below the wing itself in the picture, the layer just doesn’t seem to support it. It would have had to left a weather system behind him to pick up that much icing.
The texture of the white is what baffles me. It looks like rime icing. Assuming the plane is at 10K guessing looking at the horizon and distance from clouds, I would think most of it would have subliminated by the time the picture was taken.
Also, if the flight attendant was so concerned, why wasn’t the picture taken while on the ground? 
I have seen even on my Sundowner the condensation effect you describe around the fuel tanks on your subsequent post but of course down my way, it’s not usually cold enough to condensate into frost.
For sure, no argument here, it’s fishy for sure. Conditions would’ve had to have been screwy if this was picked up inflight, OR , the pilot would’ve had to have been half suicidal if he took off with so much snow that this was what was left after he reached his ahhh cruising ahh, altitude of ahhh, 37 ahh thousand feet ahh… , and you’re right about her should’ve have been getting weird 30 min prior or more when the departed!!
It’s a weird one here. the FA board guys will get to the bottom if it though! 
FAKE- no way this is real and no way they made it to a FL with that much frost. if it was snow it’d have to been melted then re-frozen for it to say stuck at 300+ KTS.
Fake…I agree with Fly and some of you above that posted concerning its authenticity. Clearly, would have not made it to any FL and maintain the speed required to sustain flight without bells and whistles going off. And I read the story.
HOWEVER,
This raises a question that I have pondered in the last few years flying commercial. What does one do if sitting in the window seat and you see something amiss i.e. extreme icing, flaps/slats not extended for t/o on the t/o run, you get my drift…do you say something and try to make a commotion in light of the way we are today, when it comes to flying as a pax? And what if your wrong? Jail time for sure…and your 15 minutes of fame on all the news venues. Pass on that. But if your right…
Do like this guy.
Ahhh, the gullibility of the uneducated…
What if you saw This?
I had an one of our older doctors have a “problem” and used the trash can cause our potty seat has been removed. It was not a fun day to be at work to say the least
edit- man I totally just hijacked this thread, the picture was fake anyways
[quote=“flyboy97222”]
Classy!
Back to the wing (if that’s even possible now), it would be even more realistic if there was a guy out there shoveling.
I’m laughing so hard I can barely type. 
I love how the guy is throwing the snow INTO the wind!
Must be union! 