Ground deicing of 737

[trinnydriver]

I was a passenger on a flight from Geneva to the UK a few days ago. It was snowing at Geneva when our plane arrived and we were embarked after some delay due to queues at security. When we were pushed back we had not been deiced and the wings had snow on at least two thirds of their span from leading to trailing edge. There was probably ice under the snow but the snow was too thick to confirm that. I am but a humble PPL/IR but I was most concerned about the situation. I managed to make sufficient fuss in the cabin as we taxied for takeoff to persuade a member of the flight crew to look at the wings from the cabin. We were then told that we'd be going back to the deicing area to be deiced. This involved halting taxiing for a few minutes as we taxied back for deicing. Subsequently we were deiced and had an uneventful flight. Was I right to be concerned or can a 737 reasonably expect to takeoff with some snow and ice on the wing?

[ifleeplanes]

YES you were very rightly concerned. Ice on a wing the equivalent to fine sandpaper will reduce lift by 30% and increase drag by 40%.
I find it amazing that they pushed and were going to take off if this is true. Not to put it too lightly you may have saved the day!!

[alexban]

Maybe they intended to deice on a remote area,it's a common thing at big airports.
Few days ago we had to deice on BRU ,a somehow long taxi to the deiceing area,then deice with the engines running.
Of course there could've been some restless pax on the plane,seeing us leaving the gate and taxi with ice on the wings,and thinking I will take off like that.
You did alright,but my guess they would've deiced anyway.
Brgds Alex

[trinnydriver]

The Captain had no apparent intention of deicing because it wasn't until I had made a fuss that someone came out from the cockpit to look at the wings. By that time we were some way up the taxiway for runway 23 to the point where we were unable to turn around. We pulled over to the very end of the taxiway whilst alllowing other aircraft past us to take off. We then taxied back the way we came after Geneva ground must have stopped taxiing traffic to allow us to do so.

[alexban]

If this is the case trinny you may probably have saved the day.
I found difiicult to believe there are pilots doing this mistake,taking ice for laugh.Also I found dificult to believe that no other crew member alerted the pilots about the contamination on the wings.
I usually ask the flight attendants at the briefing to inform me if they see anything out of ordinary,and ice or snow on the wings will definetly be something in this category.
Brgds
Alex

[trinnydriver]

Interestingly the plane was chartered from the Czech Republic on behalf of a UK low cost airline. The Czech company is reported on the internet as having been financially troubled in the recent past. I wonder how much money they would have saved had they got away without the deicing.