Take off with snow on wing
For each mission there is a purpose, with which every flight operation is calibrated.
For example, I quote an old ex-Sabena flight instructor, I made the transition to the B-737 300 on the simulator with.
He included in his lessons one where you had to take off with a single engine ... ("Who knows?! It may happen one day that you have to depart from an airport in a rush due to war).
A very different case is the one of the flight to be carried from A to B with a load of paying passengers who are entitled to maximum security, regularity, comfort and economy.
I will never forget one of those winter nights when we were about to leave from an airport in Southern Europe, while a snowstorm raged.
In addition to the usual preparatory operations we had to:
- Get in line for the de-icing
- Wait, if necessary, for the runway in use and taxiways to be cleared from snow.
- Based on the estimated time of completion of the above procedures, request a slot for departure.
- Calculating the result of all of this to decide on the passenger boarding time
(It is now clear that the punctuality of flight had gone).
It's obvious that it was wishful thinking the synchronization of all the above operations .
If the runway had been cleared, the plane was not yet being deiced / anti-iced, or vice versa, or the slot provided was expired and reassigned half an hour later, and then we had to go back to the starting point.
If the passengers had boarded, we had to invite them (risking a complaint for kidnapping) to stay on board for not losing the priority acquired; maybe we prayed the flight attendants to serve a refreshment.
Finally everything was ready to start (there was a tyrannical "holdover time"), but not without having alerted the Purser not to hesitate to advise if he saw some snow on the wings.
And then (correct me if I'm wrong or if something has changed):
There were extraordinary procedures to apply: special operations, "Cold Weather Operations" and "T.O. and Landing on Contaminated Rwys ".
They had to be performed, with the contribution of PF and PNF; a flight controls test at the beginning and at the end of taxi, a maneuver of extension and retraction of the flaps / slats, the activation of Engine Anti-ice (with engine run-up every ten minutes to remove any ice formed on the intake of the engines and on PT2 probes), and the preselection of the Airfoil anti-ice, after start.
After rotation we were expected to cycle the “retraction / extension / retraction” of the under carriage in order to shake away the slush.
It's clear that avoiding all of this fuss made life much more easy, and I confess that more than once I found myself in the embarrassing
position to explain to some of my passenger: "This guy did not perform the deicing, while we are having such a delay ... "
Invariably I said: "Safety is our first goal."
In conclusion that crew has:
- Put at risk their own lives, those of their passengers, and perhaps those of others on the ground
- Risked to produce an immeasurable economic damage
- Put a stain on the good name and honor of their company, their colleagues and the pilots all over the world.
- Given a bad example of unruliness and airmanship especially to those of us who are joining this wonderful profession.
Finally.
Extract from the question data base for the issue of a ULM pilot license:
-The frost has not been removed from the ULM surfaces before flight:
A) It does not create problems, as it is swept away with the speed increase in the take-off run.
B) may cause a take-off with an angle of incidence and an IAS below the normal values
C) causes a variation of the curvature of the airfoil, with a consequent increase in lift during take-off
D) may affect the safety of the flight since take-off trajectory.
"Last bat not least," I quote my Navigation Code:
The commander of a flight must ensure the perfect airworthiness... the correct supply of fluids ... the complete absence of any contaminant from surfaces of the aircraft.
Fly Safe
DOVE