A few weeks ago I wrote about being surprised by the amount of water in the PW5's wings (spoiler boxes) and empennage. This time it was ice. Some cold nights after a rainy week caused that accumulated water to freeze - hard! It was about 1/4" thick and about two feet long, tightly stuck under the spoiler actuators. It took me quite a bit of work with a sharp tool to break it up and pry it out. Pictured below is about half of the ice from one wing.
Turns out there are drain holes at both ends of the spoiler boxes, and they were plugged with dirt, so the water wouldn't drain out. Something else to check for on every preflight inspection... Maybe this is common in other parts of the country, but it was a surprise to us here in Southern California.
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