Originally Posted by
segfault
Maybe this is a stupid idea, but in places like this where ice is a known issue, and as an addition to anti-ice procedures, would it help to have a climate controlled environment to store aircraft in the last hour or so before flight? I am thinking about something like a hangar with low humidity, increased temperature, instruments to detect ice, and obviously protection from precipitation.
Several factors need to be considered. One, as any glasses wearer will tell you, it doesn't matter what humidity is inside, when you enter from the cold, your glasses fog up massively. Another example is an instruction manual to almost any electronic device that advises you to NOT turn it on immediately after it was brought in from the cold. The reason is the same - condensation. If you bring in an airplane inside from the cold, you have no other option but to leave it there for a few hours or maybe even days to let the condensation evaporate. Otherwise, when you turn the power on, you will have multiple shorts all over the plane.
Second is the sheer size of hangars you need for such an operation. Some companies in Canada and Alaska who fly relatively small planes (I'd say, Beechcraft 1900 max) store their machines in hangars overnight to avoid using the unbelievably expensive de-icing fluid in the morning. Storing several even single-aisle planes in a hangar, however, would be prohibitively expensive. Keeping the hangars warm and dehumidified with constant movements would be astronomical.