Boots or no boots?
I got into multi-engine flying in general because of an unexpected encounter with ice years ago. Since that incident all the planes I have owned have de-ice boots. Only a few were certified known-ice, and I never knowingly fly into areas forecast worse than Light ("occasional moderate" is OK, but usually with a re-route to avoid the mountains) even in K-I planes.
I told myself I would never own a plane that didn't have deicing equipment, and in bigger planes having them was critical. However, recently ice hasn't been a factor in my flying. I have never popped the boots on the P210 I'm flying now in real icing conditions (I do test them on every flight). In almost 3 years I have canceled only two P210 flights because of forecast ice.
The P337 I'm looking at does not have boots (although it's "plumbed" for them). It looks like a dynamite plane otherwise, and it does have a windshield hot plate and front prop deicers. I'm afraid I'm wussing out if I don't stick to my pledge of only flying planes with boots, but I'd hate to pass on a good plane that would be just as serviceable as the P210 I'm in now with the added safety of a second engine.
Anyone have any flights where you didn't have boots and wished you had, or are we all just avoiding icing conditions like the plague? My feeling is to forego the boots this time and just adjust the mission to accommodate the equipment, just as I've been doing for 3 years now in a single.
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