Most of the places in the world have snow season. While aircrafts traveling in these climatic conditions snow will stay on the aircraft surface. This increases the weight of an aircraft. To avoid this aircrafts snow need to be removed and here's where "Deicing" comes in.
Deicing: The process of removing snow, ice, and frost from the surface of an aircraft is known as "Deicing".
Why does an aircraft need deicing:
Wing Flaps, Slats, and ailerons of the aircraft are always needed to be in free motion. If ice stayed on these parts it makes them difficult to move. frozen ice on the aircraft's body makes it imbalance. This leads to difficulty in controlling. Types of icing that can be seen on the aircraft's body are Overnight Frost, Clear Ice, Rime Ice & Mixed Ice. Icing can also corrupt the instruments on the aircraft.
Ice on the outer body of an aircraft needs to be checked clearly during the outside check and deiced. Even a small amount of ice can be dangerous.
Areas to be checked are :
a) Wings (upper and lower)
b) Vertical and horizontal tail surfaces (upper and lower horizontal surfaces)
c) Fuselage
d) Engine inlets and fan blades (front and backside of fan blades)
e) Control surfaces and gaps
f) Pitot heads and static ports
g) Landing gear and landing gear doors
h) Antennas and sensors
i) All other aerodynamic surfaces
j) Propellers
Process of Deicing:
✈ Before starting the Deicing process pilots need to go through the "Deicing checklist".
✈ All the engines need to be turned off.
✈ Depending on the aircraft condition captain choose the type of deicing fluid they needed.
✈ Deicing Fluid types
Type-I: Mixture of 20% water and 80% glycol. Short term protection. Sprayed at high pressure with 130° to 180° F. Dye orange in color.
Type-II: Mixture of 50% glycol with corrosion inhibition and Pseudoplastic. It remains till the aircraft reaches 100knots speed. It is applied in two steps. The first round with heated type 2 fluid to remove ice and the second round with non-heated type 2 fluid to remain on the aircraft body and act as anti-icing. Clear color.
Type-III: It is used for aircraft that travels with a speed of less than 100knots. Bright yellow color.
Type-IV: Same as Type II but not mixed with water. It also applied in two steps. one to remove ice and second to act as an anti-icing agent it remains for a longer time than type-II. Green in color.
✈ After the completion of spraying, this process will end with the pilot's going through the "Post spraying checklist".
Now, Pilots can prepare for the regular operation process to start their JOURNEY.
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