Narrative:

We were getting vectors to the GPS rwy 8 at ZZZ1 in IMC conditions and active icing (ice light illuminated) when we got the horizontal stabilizer (hstab) ice fail annunciator. As we were near the airport and knew that the cloud bases were fairly high; we felt the best course of action to exit the icing conditions would be to continue descent to the airport. We accomplished the emergency procedure for an hstab ice fail light and continued to a flaps-10 landing as called for in the procedure. Approach and landing was without incident. This was the aircraft's first encounter with icing conditions since it had come out of maintenance in ZZZ for troubleshooting of an hstab ice fail annunciation. Maintenance in ZZZ had run the ground test of the system and found no anomalies; but noted some areas on the hstab that needed additional sealant which they applied. Our incident thus makes this the second consecutive icing encounter and subsequent hstab ice fail. (We had also tested the system prior to takeoff and found no faults). After landing at ZZZ1; and at the direction of maintenance control; we were asked to push in the pulled circuit breaker (C/B) and retest the system. We accomplished this and found no fault. With two consecutive icing encounters and two consecutive hstab ice fails; and all the while the ground test passes; it is obvious that the normal ground test is not robust enough to find the cause of this system failure. Maintenance should be required to escalate the troubleshooting of this system beyond a normal ground test and sign-off; before this aircraft is allowed to re-enter icing conditions!

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Captain notes that after two consecutive icing encounters and two consecutive Horizontal Stab (HStab) Ice Fail annunciations on two different flights; the normal Ground Test used by Maintenance is not 'robust enough' to find the cause of the HSTAB Ice Fails that have occurred in flight; on a Beechjet BE-400XP aircraft.

Narrative: We were getting vectors to the GPS Rwy 8 at ZZZ1 in IMC conditions and active icing (Ice light illuminated) when we got the Horizontal Stabilizer (HStab) Ice Fail annunciator. As we were near the airport and knew that the cloud bases were fairly high; we felt the best course of action to exit the icing conditions would be to continue descent to the airport. We accomplished the Emergency procedure for an HStab Ice Fail light and continued to a Flaps-10 landing as called for in the procedure. Approach and landing was without incident. This was the aircraft's first encounter with icing conditions since it had come out of Maintenance in ZZZ for troubleshooting of an HStab Ice Fail annunciation. Maintenance in ZZZ had run the Ground Test of the system and found no anomalies; but noted some areas on the HStab that needed additional sealant which they applied. Our incident thus makes this the second consecutive icing encounter and subsequent HStab Ice Fail. (We had also tested the system prior to takeoff and found no faults). After landing at ZZZ1; and at the direction of Maintenance Control; we were asked to push in the pulled circuit breaker (C/B) and retest the system. We accomplished this and found no fault. With two consecutive icing encounters and two consecutive HStab Ice Fails; and all the while the Ground Test passes; it is obvious that the normal Ground Test is not robust enough to find the cause of this system failure. Maintenance should be required to escalate the troubleshooting of this system beyond a normal Ground Test and sign-off; before this aircraft is allowed to re-enter icing conditions!

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.