Curious About Deicing Challenges Across Different Locations
Posted by Automatic-Play-6258@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 7 comments
Hi everyone,
My dad has been an aircraft mechanic for over 10 years, and he often mentions how being understaffed during deicing operations creates significant challenges. I’m curious—do your deicing crews face similar issues? Short-handed?
At his location, it takes around 40-60 minutes to refill the deicing truck when it runs out of fluid. Is that a common experience for you, or is it different where you work?
I’m really interested in learning how deicing operations are handled in different countries. Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!
F1shermanIvan@reddit
Where I work, we have to call ahead to make sure the crews have plugged in the deicing cart so the fluid is heated. Because sometimes they forget. It’s a pressure washer connected to a heated tank for type I fluid.
I fly in/out of one airport that has a proper deicing truck, with type I and IV fluid, and there’s literally one truck to do every plane. So sometimes you’re third in line with number one shut down and the prop brake on just waiting for an hour.
Everywhere else I fly to only has type I fluid, so we do a lot of checking the holdover times, etc….
SlowDownToGoDown@reddit
In the US, deicing varies widely airport-to-airport.
Deice at the gate, deice on part of the ramp, deice at a dedicated deice facility...varies.
Operator provides deicing equipment, airport authority does the deicing, FBO is contracted to do the deicing...varies.
One truck is used, more than one truck is used...varies.
PullDoNotRotate@reddit
One of the dumbest mornings I had at a regional airline had to do with the fact that the truck was full of Type I (as in, de-icing) fluid, but that the night shift had not set same up to be heated to the proper use temperature for the morning. Turned out it was a dead heat (ha) between the sun coming up to melt the frost/ice and the truck heating up to melt same.
But I can't think of a specific time, actually, where the staffing itself has been an issue. Usually it's just "too many planes, too nasty conditions and not enough spots to get it done expeditiously."
Refilling a truck in mid-de- or anti-icing would probably just mean that we get to start over in any sort of active icing conditions, incidentally—and that also would start all the way from the top again with de-icing, to remove anything that has accumulated, then the anti-icing pass to prevent anything from accumulating.
InGeorgeWeTrust_@reddit
If they have to refill the truck during deicing a plane, that’s a rough snow storm.
But yeah it takes a while, gotta test the fluid make sure it’s mixed right and test it again then take a record of it all. That process even with enough people takes 30-60 minutes.
You can deice with 2 people. The trucks on a normal day are capable of spraying a several planes before running out of fluid.
Automatic-Play-6258@reddit (OP)
Thanks for your response! I’m curious—how many planes can a fully loaded deicing truck typically service before needing a refill? And on average, how often does the truck need to be refilled during a single deicing operation?
Automatic-Play-6258@reddit (OP)
Thanks for your response! I’m curious—how many planes can a fully loaded deicing truck typically service before needing a refill? And on average, how often does the truck need to be refilled during a single deicing operation?
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Hi everyone,
My dad has been an aircraft mechanic for over 10 years, and he often mentions how being understaffed during deicing operations creates significant challenges. I’m curious—do your deicing crews face similar issues? Short-handed?
At his location, it takes around 40-60 minutes to refill the deicing truck when it runs out of fluid. Is that a common experience for you, or is it different where you work?
I’m really interested in learning how deicing operations are handled in different countries. Thanks in advance for sharing your experiences!
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