Narrative:

I was PIC on a part 91 flight from a small airport and encountered unexpected icing shortly after takeoff. I was planning a 75 nm flight to base in an SR22 fiki (flight into known icing) airplane. I am current in IFR procedures and fiki training. I have 1000 hours in the SR22 about 88 total in the last 90 days.an hour and a half before departure I called the home base tower to ask about runway conditions; it was reported as good with traffic indicating no problems. An hour before departure; I called the home base FBO and asked about updated runway conditions and they were reported as good with aircraft landing without problems or reports of icing problems. I checked foreflight throughout the afternoon for current conditions and advisories. The local conditions were similar but it appeared that they were letting up. There was an icing advisory for moderate icing but the current conditions at the airport were reported as mist; calm winds; 500 ft ceiling and below freezing temperatures. I knew a warm front from the south was causing the freezing rain; but there was now no longer any freezing rain.at the airport; I examined the main runway and found no ice on the runway. I confirmed that the metar was accurate; and that there was not any freezing rain at the time. I deiced the plane; then let it warm up and got IFR clearance. I turned on the tks anti-icing system to high. I took off and after an uneventful takeoff roll was airborne. At 1000 ft AGL; I saw evidence of ice buildup on the leading edges. I turned the icing system to max. My climb performance was clearly degraded from the usual 1000-1200 fpm to 500 fpm. I made the decision at 1500 AGL to return to land. I asked for immediate vectors to the GPS on the reciprocal runway. The ATC controller asked why and I told him that I was encountering ice. I accepted vectors for the GPS approach and was on glidepath soon. Since I was concerned about icing and the reduced climb performance I did not reduce power until the field was in sight. At this point the anti-icing had done its work and performance was normal; so I went around and lined up again with vectors for the reciprocal GPS. I was soon on glidepath and recognized this time that the airplane's performance was normal. I decreased power and airspeed and made an uneventful landing. The total time in the air was 13 minutes. After encountering worsening conditions 1000 ft AGL; I believe it was correct to immediately return. Most important was making a poor decision to takeoff when I had the ability to go by car. I think if I had spent more time looking at conditions at additional local airports I would likely have seen a pattern of cancellations which would have changed my plan. I normally review weather data and charts myself on the internet; but I would have been well served to call flight service for a weather advisory. I believe if I had done this I would have canceled the flight. This is something I certainly intend to do in the future when the conditions are marginal.

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: SR22 pilot reported he returned to the departure airport after encountering icing conditions in the initial climb.

Narrative: I was PIC on a part 91 flight from a small airport and encountered unexpected icing shortly after takeoff. I was planning a 75 nm flight to base in an SR22 FIKI (Flight Into Known Icing) airplane. I am current in IFR procedures and FIKI training. I have 1000 hours in the SR22 about 88 total in the last 90 days.An hour and a half before departure I called the home base Tower to ask about runway conditions; it was reported as good with traffic indicating no problems. An hour before departure; I called the home base FBO and asked about updated runway conditions and they were reported as good with aircraft landing without problems or reports of icing problems. I checked Foreflight throughout the afternoon for current conditions and advisories. The local conditions were similar but it appeared that they were letting up. There was an icing advisory for moderate icing but the current conditions at the airport were reported as mist; calm winds; 500 ft ceiling and below freezing temperatures. I knew a warm front from the south was causing the freezing rain; but there was now no longer any freezing rain.At the airport; I examined the main runway and found no ice on the runway. I confirmed that the METAR was accurate; and that there was not any freezing rain at the time. I deiced the plane; then let it warm up and got IFR clearance. I turned on the TKS anti-icing system to high. I took off and after an uneventful takeoff roll was airborne. At 1000 ft AGL; I saw evidence of ice buildup on the leading edges. I turned the icing system to max. My climb performance was clearly degraded from the usual 1000-1200 fpm to 500 fpm. I made the decision at 1500 AGL to return to land. I asked for immediate vectors to the GPS on the reciprocal runway. The ATC controller asked why and I told him that I was encountering ice. I accepted vectors for the GPS approach and was on glidepath soon. Since I was concerned about icing and the reduced climb performance I did not reduce power until the field was in sight. At this point the anti-icing had done its work and performance was normal; so I went around and lined up again with vectors for the reciprocal GPS. I was soon on glidepath and recognized this time that the airplane's performance was normal. I decreased power and airspeed and made an uneventful landing. The total time in the air was 13 minutes. After encountering worsening conditions 1000 ft AGL; I believe it was correct to immediately return. Most important was making a poor decision to takeoff when I had the ability to go by car. I think if I had spent more time looking at conditions at additional local airports I would likely have seen a pattern of cancellations which would have changed my plan. I normally review weather data and charts myself on the internet; but I would have been well served to call Flight Service for a weather advisory. I believe if I had done this I would have canceled the flight. This is something I certainly intend to do in the future when the conditions are marginal.

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.