Flight Crew Commercial
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical
Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; General Declared Emergency
Aircraft; Weather
While climbing through FL250 we received a 'DUCT FAIL' warning message. Complied with QRH; which included leaving icing conditions. While in cruise determined to continue to destination because of the weather conditions in our area; the fuel we had available; and the weather conditions at the possible diversion airports.) We felt that with the fuel we had available we were unable to fly to an airport where we would not encounter any icing at all. We decided the best course of action was to declare an emergency as a precautionary measure and continue to our destination. We flew the approach and landed without further incident.
In speaking with our Dispatcher; we decided that staying high and avoiding icing conditions until descent was best. We landed without incident in the Flaps 20 configuration in accordance with the QRH in case we did accrete ice and needed the speed to keep flying.
When all feasible diversion airports were reporting icing conditions more problematic than their destination; a CRJ-200 flight crew opted to remain out of icing conditions and continue to their destination after complying with the checklist for an ANTI ICE DUCT CAS warning.