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Sunday, January 30, 2000 Page: 5B
In reference to the letter from the 50-year aviation expert about the
Cessna 310 crash and carburetor heat (Jan. 25), unless that thing was an
antique, it didn’t have carburetors on the engines but was fuel-injected just
as most cars now are. The fuel injection system eliminated 99 percent of any
icing problems associated with carbureted engines and provides better fuel
economy and power due to more efficient fuel distribution to the cylinders.
The only icing problem a fuel-injected engine will experience is what is
called induction icing where ice will build up in the air/fuel passages on
rare occasions. As the holder of a multi-engine commercial pilots license, I
have never experienced any icing problems on fuel-injection systems and only
occasional icing on carbureted engines. Besides that, applying carburetor heat
prior to landing is one of the top items on the landing checklist for
carbureted engines.
I really don’t believe the weather conditions were conducive to carburetor
icing the night of the crash.
I too can speculate on what might have caused the crash, but will only know
the answer after a thorough investigation by the FAA.
Larry Papach
Mountaintop