Emb-145 flight crew experiences loss of pitot static instruments at FL350 during descent. With indic...

Narrative:

We were holding 50 miles south of our destination at 36;000. We were IMC and interior windows were covered in frost; we were waiting for the weather to move north of the airport before descending and continuing the approach. Once we began to descend we noticed the airspeed indications began to drop from 200 knots. While descending through FL320 the aircraft began to buffet and to pull the nose lower. Captain disconnected the autopilot; pulled the aircraft nose up and the buffet stopped; as the captain continued the descent we noticed the airspeed continue to reduce for all three indications; I declared an emergency at this time with center. At this time the altimeter on both pfd's failed. After a few moments the first officer's altimeter began working and I took control of the aircraft. At this time I began a more aggressive descent looking for warmer temps since the pitot static system appeared to be frozen. Once descending through about FL190; both airspeed indications and altimeters appeared to operate normally. I continued to descend the aircraft for approach. Once on localizer I asked for my wiper and it would not operate; so I transferred control to the captain for landing. Landed uneventfully; entered malfunctions into the logbook.it is possible the pitot static system has a design flaw. This event was described to me by another emb-145 captain. He also had all airspeed indications fail; not sure if the altimeter also failed. We were lucky that the aircraft didn't stall or overspend and cause structural damage. The FAA needs to take a look at the pitot static system of this aircraft. It might need to be redesigned. It is possible for a serious accident or crash. There is no QRH for this failure. I have serious doubts to the safety of this aircraft.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: EMB-145 flight crew experiences loss of pitot static instruments at FL350 during descent. With indicated airspeed decreasing; Mach buffet is encountered and correctly diagnosed by the Captain; who raises the nose to decrease airspeed.

Narrative: We were holding 50 miles south of our destination at 36;000. We were IMC and interior windows were covered in frost; we were waiting for the weather to move north of the airport before descending and continuing the approach. Once we began to descend we noticed the airspeed indications began to drop from 200 knots. While descending through FL320 the aircraft began to buffet and to pull the nose lower. Captain disconnected the autopilot; pulled the aircraft nose up and the buffet stopped; as the Captain continued the descent we noticed the airspeed continue to reduce for all three indications; I declared an emergency at this time with Center. At this time the altimeter on both PFD's failed. After a few moments the First Officer's altimeter began working and I took control of the aircraft. At this time I began a more aggressive descent looking for warmer temps since the pitot static system appeared to be frozen. Once descending through about FL190; both airspeed indications and altimeters appeared to operate normally. I continued to descend the aircraft for approach. Once on LOC I asked for my wiper and it would not operate; so I transferred control to the Captain for landing. Landed uneventfully; entered malfunctions into the logbook.It is possible the pitot static system has a design flaw. This event was described to me by another EMB-145 Captain. He also had all airspeed indications fail; not sure if the altimeter also failed. We were lucky that the aircraft didn't stall or overspend and cause structural damage. The FAA needs to take a look at the pitot static system of this aircraft. It might need to be redesigned. It is possible for a serious accident or crash. There is no QRH for this failure. I have serious doubts to the safety of this aircraft.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.

Attributes
ACN	1181152
Time
Date	201406
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Descent
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Airspeed Indicator
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Person 2
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Speed All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Emb-145 flight crew experiences loss of pitot static instruments at FL350 during descent. With indicated airspeed decreasing; mach buffet is encountered and correctly diagnosed by the captain; who raises the nose to decrease airspeed.