Drive through deicing

[cwatters]

While waiting for my plane to be de-iced it occurred to me how inefficient the whole process seems to be. I mean the plane had to park up while at least four people worked on two trucks that had to manoeuvre around the aircraft. Not to mention that the men doing the actual spraying had just has one small jet that has to be waved from side to side.

Why aren't there any automatic "taxi under" computer controlled deicing machines? (Perhaps they only have them at airports I haven’t flown through yet?) I know planes are different sizes and shapes but think how much more advanced modern inkjet printers and car washes are. It has to be possible to automate the process somehow even if you need someone to check visually that it’s all been covered.

Perhaps de-icing delays don't cost enough?

[Whispering Giant]

cwatters - most large international airport's do have drive through de-iceing equipment, one example i can think off is CDG and AMS in europe - BUT you still will get delay's as you have to join the queue to drive on through it.

brgds
W.G

[seat 0A]

Well, AMS hasn`t got it. They do have de-icing ramps. but once you`re there, you`re still being sprayed by the trucks.
CDG used to have something approaching the idea of a drive-through de-icing, but that was blown away in the storm of 24 december 2002. Hasn`t been replaced.
Pity, cause it did work quite well.
Funny airport, CDG, quite original in design, with the taxiway-structure and all. Works quite well, actually. Shame about ATC, though.....

[Spitoon]

I tink you'll find that larger airports that are located in commonly cold parts of the world often have the sort of kit that you're talking about. Around Europe, try asking at some of the Scandinavian airports.

[Md-driver]

Hi there!
I do not know of any drive-through de-icers. However there were crane-like installations in Paris and a few other places. De-icing can be done in two steps, were the first fluid is used to remove ice and snow and the second spray is a protective fluid applied after the fisrt step. In a drive-through scenario you would have to go back for your second spray were a delay would render the first spray invalid. Also you would have to have a visual inspection after the treatment to make sure that all ice and snow has been removed.
No such installations in Scandinavia. We had one on trial for a few years at Luleå (ESPA) but it has not been in use for a while.
The problem with drivethrough de-icing is that it is not possible to de-ice efficiently. In some conditions freezing rain for example as well as aircraft covered with a lot of snow, you need a lot of fluid to clear the ice or snow from the plane. Frost requires a lot less fluid. The drive-through equipment can not determine the amount needed. The experience gained at lulea was that on average a lot more fluid than was necessary was used, which posed an environmental issue. Also as the equipment sprayed farly uniformal amounts on the whole airplane a lot of fluid was sprayed into engine, apu inlets as well as on F/D windows which should only be sprayed with a minimum amount if at all. Several aborted take-offs were reported due to smoke in cabin after setting of take-off thrust due to de-icing fluid beeing ingested by the engines and producing a grey smoke from the airconditioning units. The most efficient methos so far is actually still a manual operator for de-icing.