A Ryanair flight to Stansted Airport was spotted at Brindisi Airport, Italy being de-iced in a very old fashioned way by airport ground staff with buckets of hot water. This shocking vedio of unorthodox approach was captured last week and became viral in social media quickly.
The recording shows an airport grand staff rushing towards a stationary Ryanair plane with carrying a bucket full of water. He takes this over to colleagues on the steps of the aircraft and exchanges the full bucket out for an empty one. The water is then splashed over the engine below trying to clear out ice ahead of the journey.
In general, planes should be de-iced by using specialised equipment to spray the aircraft with a heated combination of propylene glycol with water to check the ice to develop again.
The video as posted on Facebook by Italian politician Mauro D’Attis with a caption, “Look how they tried to de-ice the planes at Brindisi. Shame!”
However,Brindisi airport operators were satisfied with the unusual procedure,as reported by media.
Their explained “Buckets of hot water at 60c are allowed when the air temperature is 0c.’’They also added: ”The Captain was well aware and satisfied. The practice was to remove a little residual snow. It was a completely secure method.”
But an aviation safety expert said to press “It looks a very haphazard way of dealing with a potentially very dangerous problem.”
It’s also understood that Italy’s Civil Aviation Authority is sending inspectors to Brindisi subsequent to the incident.
De-icing a plane ahead of take-off is imperative because “even a quarter inch of frozen material can alter airflow around the wing – highly important during take-off when speed is slow and margins are thin,” pilot Patrick Smith explained in his book Cockpit Confidential.
According to Smith, there have been cases of tragedies earlier when planes have attempted to take off with iced-over wings.
In 1994, during Halloween night, “ sixty-eight people died aboard American Eagle flight 4181 – a crash attributed to a design flaw, since rectified, in the ATR-72’s deicing system.”
Source: express.co.uk
