As you enter
The top priority: ensuring a safe and smooth operation through the winter months.
As you enter
'I would say they set the gold standard for de-icing,' said Vice President of MSP Operations
That experience, coupled with well-equipped facilities, is why
The de-icing boot camp is a 'train the trainer' event, with groups rotating through sessions throughout the summer. Each bootcamp includes computer training, instructor demonstrations and hands-on practice spraying planes with water instead of de-icing fluid.
'The training really recenters everything,' said
Behind the scenes with a
WHY DE-ICE?
The shape of an airplane's wings is carefully designed to provide lift, which enables flight. When ice and snow accumulate on a plane, the shape of the wings are altered, and air does not flow over them properly. That snow and ice also adds weight and can prevent the free movement of control surfaces like flaps, ailerons and the rudder.
A mock de-icing of plane in MSP for
There are two major steps to de-icing a plane: removing ice and snow from the plane's surface, then protecting that surface from further accumulation before flight by anti-icing.
'To use an analogy that may be familiar to many: it's like a car wash,' said
De-icers use a combination of warm water and propylene glycol. That propylene glycol has a lower freezing point and absorbs water. By mixing propylene glycol with water, the freezing point of the mixed fluid is lower than water alone and enables snow and ice to fall off the plane and prevents it from reaccumulating.
According to the
De-icing the tail of an Airbus A320 at
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WHAT HAPPENS TO THE FLUID THAT RUNS OFF THE PLANE?
At MSP, the mixture of water and propylene glycol that runs off the plane and onto the ground flows into a special drainage system that flows into tanks. The fluid is then distilled, separating the water from the propylene glycol. The propylene glycol is then refined so it can be used for other purposes.
After completing the sessions, trainees - now trainers - return to their home airports, where they pass their knowledge and experience on to hundreds of
Top 25:
Rank Airport Count
1Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport (MSP) 14,040
2Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) 8,255
3Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC) 8,160
4Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) 2,442
5Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) 1,693
6O'Hare International Airport (ORD) 1,109
7Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) 1,077
8Denver International Airport (DEN) 1,041
9Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) 985
10John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) 974
11Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport (MKE) 817
12Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) 803
13Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE) 740
14Spokane International Airport (GEG) 701
15Indianapolis International Airport (IND) 642
16Boise Airport (BOI) 638
17Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) 633
18LaGuardia Airport (LGA) 575
19Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) 571
20Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) 518
21Dane County Regional Airport (MSN) 516
22Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport (ROC) 510
23 Epply Field (OMA) 507
24John Glenn Columbus International Airport (CMH) 494
25Kansas City International Airport (MCI) 493
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