The problem:
• Fine particles of frost or ice, the size of a grain of table salt and distributed as sparsely as one per square centimeter over and airplane wing’s upper surface, can destroy enough lift to prevent a plane from taking off.
• Almost virtually imperceptible amounts of ice on an aircraft wing’s upper surface during takeoff can result in significant performance degradation.
• Small, almost visually imperceptible amounts of ice distributed on an airplane’s wing upper surface cause the same aerodynamic penalties as much larger (and more visible) ice accumulations.