PLT206: Temperature Effects on Performance and Icing
What code PLT206 covers, why the FAA tests it, and how to study Temperature Effects on Performance and Icing before your checkride.
Recall effects of temperature - density altitude / icing
What this means for your checkride
Temperature strongly affects both performance and icing. Higher temperature raises density altitude, thinning the air so the airplane climbs and accelerates worse; certain temperature and humidity ranges also make carburetor or induction icing likely, even in warm weather.
Temperature ties directly to takeoff and climb performance and to icing risk, so the FAA tests how it changes density altitude and when icing is a hazard.
Carburetor icing is not only a cold-weather problem. It is most likely in warm, humid air at low power, because fuel vaporization and the pressure drop cool the carburetor below freezing.
Where to study it
A code on your test report is an area of deficiency. An authorized instructor must review it with you and endorse that review before you take the practical test, and the examiner may revisit it during the oral. Study it until you can explain it out loud, not just recognize the answer.