A320 captain experiences severe icing while holding at 14000 feet. Increasing engine vibration is in...

Narrative:

We encountered severe icing while holding at zzzzz intersection. We requested a change in altitude or vectors to an area away from icing. Due to high traffic volume; ATC delayed our request. While holding; the #2 engine began to vibrate and reached a level of .9. This was followed by what seemed to be a compressor stall which was probably the result of ice being ingested into the engine. Shortly after this; the #1 engine began vibrating and reached a level of .7. Before the situation could worsen; I declared an emergency to get out of holding and severe icing and to land as soon as possible. The company and flight attendants were notified of the situation. I told the flight attendants to prepare the cabin for a normal landing; but if the situation changes; I would advise them. A normal landing was made and the emergency was terminated. After parking at the gate; a visual inspection of the engine showed large build-ups of ice on the engines.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A320 Captain experiences severe icing while holding at 14000 feet. Increasing engine vibration is indicated and felt as ice accumulates on the fan and possible compressor stalls occur as the ice is shed. An emergency is declared to get out of icing and land quickly.

Narrative: We encountered severe icing while holding at ZZZZZ intersection. We requested a change in altitude or vectors to an area away from icing. Due to high traffic volume; ATC delayed our request. While holding; the #2 engine began to vibrate and reached a level of .9. This was followed by what seemed to be a compressor stall which was probably the result of ice being ingested into the engine. Shortly after this; the #1 engine began vibrating and reached a level of .7. Before the situation could worsen; I declared an emergency to get out of holding and severe icing and to land ASAP. The company and flight attendants were notified of the situation. I told the Flight Attendants to prepare the cabin for a normal landing; but if the situation changes; I would advise them. A normal landing was made and the emergency was terminated. After parking at the gate; a visual inspection of the engine showed large build-ups of ice on the engines.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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	927717
Time
Date	201101
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Captain
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 160 Flight Crew Total 20000 Flight Crew Type 10000
Events
Anomaly	Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

A320 captain experiences severe icing while holding at 14000 feet. Increasing engine vibration is indicated and felt as ice accumulates on the fan and possible compressor stalls occur as the ice is shed. An emergency is declared to get out of icing and land quickly.