In-flight icing, especially under freezing rain cloud conditions in accordance with EASA CS 25 Appendix O, is a key safety and certification issue for aviation in the context of the mobility transition. Manufacturers are legally required to prove that their systems will work safely in these icing conditions. But right now, there aren't any ground-based, reproducible, and certification-ready testing options for freezing rain available internationally—especially in Europe—which is a clear bottleneck for development and certification activities.
The proposed infrastructure project closes this gap by transferring the freezing rain simulation at RTA, which has only been possible in prototype form to date, into integrated, reproducible operation that can be used for certification within RTA's existing icing wind tunnels. The innovative content lies in the systemic integration of adapted droplet generation, extended flow control, and qualified process and measurement technology into a proven large-scale infrastructure. This will create the first ground-based and, due to its reproducibility, energy-efficient testing capability for freezing rain conditions in Europe.
The infrastructure will be seamlessly integrated into ongoing operations and will be available to national and international users from industry and research. A needs assessment conducted as part of an FFG exploratory study indicates additional demand of around 12 to 20 weeks per year.
The project makes a significant contribution to application-oriented research, development, and certification of aircraft systems, reduces development risks, and enables the transfer of tests from costly and emission-intensive flight tests to controlled ground-based environments. At the same time, it strengthens Austria as a location for research and innovation in the long term. The funding requested is crucial to closing this infrastructure gap in a timely manner; without funding, the project would not be feasible or would be significantly delayed.
