aircraft deicing

[farminpilot]

I have a Piper Cherokee 140, And this is my first winter season with an airplane parked at an outdoor tie down. I am wondering how other people handle deicing their airplanes?

 

[bnt83]

I have a Piper Cherokee 140, And this is my first winter season with an airplane parked at an outdoor tie down. I am wondering how other people handle deicing their airplanes?

Heated hangars.


Deicing fluid is . I don't like the idea of hosing my airplane with it or alcohol.

 

[Stewartb]

Its easier to avoid ice than to remove it. My plane gets wing, tail, and windscreen covers every day all winter. If something happens and I get ice I remove it by spraying warmed RV antifreeze through a garden sprayer.

 

[champ driver]

What part of the country do you live in? You may need different advice from someone in Minnesota than from someone Texas.

 

[farminpilot]

I am from central Pennsylvania.

 

[James331]

I really wouldn't leave my airplane out like that, especially in a place where it freezes/snows/etc.

All your plastic is going to break way easier, you'll need to preheat your engine and interior (gyros, batteries and the like don't like being super cold ether), TCM says preheat if under 20f.

Use a split weight oil.

Think of a winterization kit, or running a strip of aluminum tape across your oil cooler if needed.

For deice, broom off all the stuff you can, you'll probably want the Orange deice, backback pump type sprayer, add the deice plus hot water, spray, starting and your left wing and work your away around being careful of areas you don't want to get that stuff, read up op on hold over times, check your left wing before you take off, if you got crap on it presume the rest of the surfaces do too.

Here's one of the better reads on it, it's from Transport Canada (their FAA).

http://www.tc.gc.ca/publications/en/tp14052/pdf/hr/tp14052e.pdf

 

[Stewartb]

horse puckey. Get a set if covers. Parking in the cold requires a little more preflight prep but guys like me have been doing it for as long as there have been airplanes. I've preheated and flown in -40 temps and the gyros and plastic parts do just fine. Planes don't need to be babied. Manage the conditions and enjoy the added performance winter temps provide.

 

[James331]

horse puckey. Get a set if covers. Parking in the cold requires a little more preflight prep but guys like me have been doing it for as long as there have been airplanes. I've preheated and flown in -40 temps and the gyros and plastic parts do just fine. Planes don't need to be babied. Manage the conditions and enjoy the added performance winter temps provide.

So -40f those gyros are doing great? Plastic isn't as brittle? Battery likes the cold?

The old bush pilots used to bring their oil and batteries in with them after puttin the plane away.

Personally I wouldn't leave anything out that was worth much.

 

[coloradobluesky]

You can polish ice off with a rag (and some gloves to keep your hands warm). You can park it in the sun. You can bring it inside a warm hangar. You can hire the guy to come out and blow hot air on it if someone has a hot air blower.

 

[James331]

You can polish ice off with a rag (and some gloves to keep your hands warm). You can park it in the sun. You can bring it inside a warm hangar. You can hire the guy to come out and blow hot air on it if someone has a hot air blower.

You can put it in a hangar, but it better be flying shortly after you pull it back out, or best bet you can spray it. Everything else is not practical, been there done that, from using a towl to a card, just not practical.

 

[NoHeat]

I have a Piper Cherokee 140, And this is my first winter season with an airplane parked at an outdoor tie down. I am wondering how other people handle deicing their airplanes?

Like many, I hangar at home but park on the ramp at my destination. So the ramp at the destination is where I have to deice.

The best solution is to ask the FBO to move you to a heated hangar a few hours before your flight. That's also better for your engine, to get it warmer before you start it.

FBOs often can't do that. Or they just could, but they refuse to do so. So then I need a Plan B, which is twofold:

I carry TKS fluid and a garden sprayer to spray it. That will help for frost or very light ice, if the outside temperature is close to freezing.

I also carry plastic garbage bags and a bucket. I'll fill the bucket with hot water in the FBO, carry it out to the ramp, and then pour it into the garbage bags, which I will place on the horizontal surfaces (wings, mostly) to melt the frost.

 

[Stewartb]

So -40f those gyros are doing great? Plastic isn't as brittle? Battery likes the cold?

The old bush pilots used to bring their oil and batteries in with them after puttin the plane away.

Personally I wouldn't leave anything out that was worth much.

Plastic isn't any more brittle than usual. Odyssey battery cranks fine without being warmed. Gyros spin up fine. SOP for many of us. My plane parks outdoors every day if the year. Cover the exterior, preheat the engine, use it for what airplanes are meant to do. Being outdoors.

 

[James331]

Plastic isn't any more brittle than usual. Odyssey battery cranks fine without being warmed. Gyros spin up fine. SOP for many of us. My plane parks outdoors every day if the year. Cover the exterior, preheat the engine, use it for what airplanes are meant to do. Being outdoors.

I'm glad you have had... a unique experience compared to most aircraft.

 

[Stewartb]

It isn't unique at all. Most of the guys I know don't have hangars. Even the ones who do have hangars use their planes to go places where there are no hangars and park outdoors for days at a time. We've managed the elements and get along fine. No make believe, just a pirep. The OP asked questions that I'm qualified to answer. Plug in the engine or otherwise preheat as necessary, remove the covers and shake off the frost/ice/snow, and go flying.

 

[James331]

It isn't unique at all. Most of the guys I know don't have hangars. Even the ones who do have hangars use their planes to go places where there are no hangars and park outdoors for days at a time. We've managed the elements and get along fine. No make believe, just a pirep. The OP asked questions that I'm qualified to answer. Done.

Do doubt cover are a good option for protection while on the ramp, depending on your ground time a little spray might still be warranted, if it's cover off and launch great, just depends.

I fly in places where we'll have -20f for quite a good stretch, we fly in ice, we deice and do it at all hours. I've felt the difference between the battery when the plane was pulled out of the heated hangar and started and when it was forced to sit overnight in -20f, and yes you can see a difference.

As for the plastic, go look at vinal siding on homes in Flordia compared to the cold north, you'll see siding gets cracked much more in the cold.

As for your panel, think your engine turns fast, look at a mechanical tach, let alone a 30,000rpm gyro, these things ain't cheap, walmart little safety space heater and extension cord is cheap. If you need to trust your gyros, getting them warmed up before launching your 3 plus gyros is a smart move.

 

[Stewartb]

Tell us your experiences, don't sit there and discredit mine. The only time covers might let the OP down are after freeze-thaw-freeze or after freezing rain. Wing covers are susceptible to leaks and condensation like anything in that weather. It rarely requires de-ice fluids, at least with solid nylon covers. All bets are off if you use mesh covers in near-freezing temps. Wing covers do require some attention. Get them off if the winds start to blow. How well your covers fit will determine how much wind they can take before they flap around and beat on your paint. The same is true for windscreen covers. They trap dust and grit and will craze your plexiglass if you aren't careful but with some care it works better than not using one.

Here's my plane now. The snow caught me off guard. I'll probably beg a little hangar time to install the skis and that'll allow the ice to release from the plane. Otherwise I could try to de-ice but at this point it isn't practical. A space heater and a blue tarp to tent a wing would be a better option. I have a answer for that problem, too. Necessity is the mother of invention. Fun with airplanes!

 

[James331]

Tell us your experiences, don't sit there and discredit mine. The only time covers might let the OP down are after freeze-thaw-freeze or after freezing rain. Wing covers are susceptible to leaks and condensation like anything in that weather. It rarely requires de-ice fluids, at least with solid nylon covers. All bets are off if you use mesh covers in near-freezing temps. Wing covers do require some attention. Get them off if the winds start to blow. How well your covers fit will determine how much wind they can take before they flap around and beat on your paint. The same is true for windscreen covers. They trap dust and grit and will craze your plexiglass if you aren't careful but with some care it works better than not using one.

Here's my plane now. The snow caught me off guard. I'll probably beg a little hangar time to install the skis and that'll allow the ice to release from the plane. Otherwise I could try to de-ice but at this point it isn't practical. A space heater and a blue tarp to tent a wing would be a better option. I have a answer for that problem, too. Necessity is the mother of invention. Fun with airplanes!

Whoa, not trying to discredit you at all, different methods, different missions, all good as long as you have good results.

I mentioned my experiences, very cold weather ops in a Pilatus, some cold weather ops in my amphib, though I'll admit my personal plane just goes to sleep in the hangar for 3-4 months a year, but I'm flying for work all through the winter.

The time it takes to start a PT6 with a overnight cold soaked battery vs a battery which has been in the heated hangar is night and day, and we're talking a under 1 year old well maintained battery.