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Finally found the time to put some pics (poor quality but the weather was really bad) of de-icing activity @ JFK during heavy snowfall on Friday evening 19/3. Pics taken while waiting to board SN502 to BRU...
Air China 748 getting treated with a brownish liquid ; later to finish it off with green stuff (see pics further below)
AZ A330 in the front (one of two parked at the gates ; this one going to MXP, the second one to FCO).
Close up : CA reg , and a combination of a 748 wing and an A330 winglet :-)
A barely visible AY A330 just after landing from HEL. Many domestic flights were cancelled that evening.
AF A380 taxiing to the gate from CDG (seen over the ice and snow covered fuselage of one of the AZ A330's)
As i said , after the brown comes the green. Can anyone elaborate on why it's a two-step process ?
Finally, after approx. 60 minutes : ready to leave for PEK, with the weather getting worse and worse...
De-icing of our own A330 took approx. 45 minutes. No time for a flight report but trust me, SN's economy class product was really decent. I would fly them again, also long haul.
The reason why the de-icing is a two step process, is because the first fluid used is probably a Type I fluid, which is used to de-ice the aircraft (it removes the ice/snow). However, if there was no other treatment after that, there would be no protection against ice forming again. That's why a second (Type IV, probably) liquid is used as an anti-ice liquid. The Type IV liquid is also more viscous than the Type I liquid, causing it to "stick" to the aircraft during the take-off roll.
I have to be honest, my currency on winter operations is somewhat lacking, so some things are a bit hazy.
However, if I seem to remember it correctly, the combination of Type I+ Type IV is used when Type IV itself (which is both a de-icing and an anti-icing fluid) would be insufficient. So, like you said, when the weather turns really nasty.
2-step is quite common here actually. Done is several times this winter all over western and northern europe. The uncommon thing is type IV, never used it actually. Only combo of I and II (translucent color).
Right, I must've been someplace else mentally yesterday. Type IV is hardly ever seen at airports like BRU (weather-wise), while types I-II are more common.
In any case, it's been a while since I last had some winter ops training, so it's all a bit hazy. Thanks for correcting me in any case!
I am not a specialist on winter-ops/deicing but it looks very strange a truck would hold 2 different types of deicing-fluids. I thought 2step deicing was step 1 : deicing . step 2 anti-icing. If memory serves well the difference is in the mixture of the fluid (water vss deicing fluid) depending the actual weather conditions.
motorcycling : sensation with a twist of the wrist
I may be wrong, of course, but I do seem to remember that different liquids contain different agents, making them more or less suitable for one job or the other (de-icing vs. anti-icing).
I also seem to remember the dilution with water being based on something else, but I can't remember how that was decided.
Actually, I've had the first step being just hot water and second step type II.
Fluid decision is a combination of the precipitation, required holdover time (%) and the LOUT (lowest operational usage temperature) to maintain a 7 degree buffer to the fluid freezing point. (10 degree for type I).
That last one can be tricky, your wing temperature can be lower than the OAT, so lowest one counts.
