Inside Airport De-Icing: The Safety Work Behind Delays (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: In 1982, a routine flight turned into a national tragedy. Air Florida Flight 90 struggled to take off during a heavy snowstorm in Washington, D.C. and then it crashed moments later.

[00:00:14] Speaker 2: Recovery crews worked in the subzero waters of the Potomac River today trying to recover the bodies of victims who died in that Air Florida crash.

[00:00:23] Speaker 1: The tragedy exposed a critical weakness in winter operations. In the years that followed, the FAA moved to standardize de-icing and anti-icing procedures across the industry. Today, that responsibility falls to a specialized crew of de-icers. They brave the cold to make winter travel possible. At Chicago O'Hare alone, teams can de-ice more than 300 planes a day, most of them right at the gate.

[00:00:49] Speaker 3: It's a delicate balance and controlled chaos.

[00:00:52] Speaker 1: Planes can accumulate thick layers of ice overnight, which can reduce lift-on take-off and increase drag. This can also harm the plane's engines.

[00:01:00] Speaker 4: I just noticed, here, they'll have to get this de-iced. Oh, love it. See that? They will take that off. That's just some rime ice. I just noticed that. It should take only a second to get in there.

[00:01:12] Speaker 1: This orange liquid is a glycol mixture called type 1 de-icing fluid. It's a hot liquid that melts snow and ice off the plane.

[00:01:20] Speaker 5: When it's snowing, the whole airplane gets type 1 to get the snow off, and then type 4 to keep the snow off.

[00:01:26] Speaker 1: Type 4 is a green solution to prevent additional snow from accumulating. Once it's applied, the clock starts ticking before the plane must take off.

[00:01:34] Speaker 6: If it's really cold, the ice might be really stubborn. It might take a long time to get the ice off. So it all depends on the conditions.

[00:01:41] Speaker 3: I think I've de-iced one airplane upwards of six or seven times. The same airplane, the same flight, just because of the way the conditions were.

[00:01:49] Speaker 1: If you're delayed this winter, know that crews are working hard to get you safely to your destination.

[00:01:55] Speaker 3: If we don't properly treat the aircraft during winter operations, bad things can happen.