Does icing conditions actually affect your aircraft in Flight Sim? If so, how does one de-ice the plane? Do the de-icing boots or anti-icing systems of the default and payware aircraft actually work? I ask this because there is an option in FSUIPC to allow icing in clouds. I don't want to enable this if there is no way to de-ice the plane using the de-icing features of the aircraft. Thanks!!

Yes, structural icing seems to affect aircraft if the temp is right and there is precip. It depends on how it is built into the model.In cloud icing affects the pitot tube which is used among other things to determine airspeed. Structural is less predominant in clouds but does occur depending on moisture content and temp.The panel determines how deicing equipment is implemented. There should be a pitot heat switch to take care of that aspect and various deicing switches appropriate for the aircraft.I can tell you I taxied to a runway in freezing drizzle and almost stalled out. Turning on deicing during the intial stage of take-off results in a power loss that may not be tolerated but it should be turned on as soon as you can get an established climb performance with gear-up drag reduced. In my case, while not recommended in the real world, I repeated the taxi with deicing on, took off with it off, then after air speed increased enough turned it on and lowered the climb rate (pitch), and all was well. This was in a twin turbo-prop.This refers to structural deicing. The pitot heat stays on and does not suck thrust power.

Hi. I think it is modelled in some ways as I'm fairly sure the altimeter and maybe other instruments will pack up in the cold. I think.Andy.