B737-800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 147; Flight Crew Type 2507
Troubleshooting; Workload; Training / Qualification; Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew FLC complied w / Automation / Advisory
Chart Or Publication; Company Policy; Manuals; Procedure; Weather
Snow and overcast conditions prevailed at departure. As I reviewed the paperwork I checked the temperature in DEN which was less than 10 C for arrival. The performance documents did not mention ice accretion penalty applied. I called the Dispatcher to ask why and his response surprised me. His training manual claims ice accretion penalty is applied from TOD on down to landing. We conferenced the Chief Pilot who concurred with my assessment. The correct manner to define the ice accretion penalty is 'when icing is encountered during any phase of flight and the landing temp is below 10C.' I'm concerned our company is dispatching flights outside of FAR 121 compliance.
Shortly after beginning my shift; I received a call from the Captain [on a flight to] DEN. He asked if ice accretion had been applied to the landing weights for DEN due to the icing conditions what he would experience during climb out from [departure airport]. I said it had not; and that per the Dispatch Operations Manual (DOM) we should only consider icing from the top of descent onwards unless the flight is very short.The captain then identified himself as a check airman and said that was an incorrect policy towards ice accretion; and the Chief Pilot subsequently agreed with him. I haven't been able to find a reference to ice accretion in the Flight Operations Manual (FOM) or 737 Flight Manual (FM) (the Captain said it had been removed 6 months ago because it's a dispatch function); but I did find references to using the entire route for determination of VREF ice usage in the FOM.
A B737-800 Captain and his flight's Dispatcher have different opinions about applying an ice accretion weight penalty to the landing weight when ice was only encountered during climb and the Flight Operations Manual (FOM) does not provide clear guidance.