What do you use to deice your plane

Chrisgoesflying

Chrisgoesflying

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Chrisgoesflying
I'm currently not home, therefore, my plane is parked outside, temperatures are falling and today we even saw a few flurries of that white, wet, cold crap falling from the sky (you know, the S-word, I don't dare to say). We'll head to warmer climates in a few weeks but in the meantime, I'll be flying my plane up here and I also will have to get it airborne for our trip south. The airport where I'm at right now has no hangars. So, if I get to the plane one morning, wings being full of ice and the S-word, how do I get it off? Sure, I can wipe off all the S-word, but what about frost/ice? Do you spray something? If so, what is it and can it be bought at regular stores or aviation stores only. Back home the plane is in a heated hangar so none of this is of concern but we're traveling and heated hangars aren't an option right now :-(
 
A sprayer of propylene glycol, commonly sold as rv antifreeze.

www.pilotsofamerica.com

De-frost?

I flew up to Kent State University (1G3) from Tampa and as I was getting ready to depart 1G3, a friendly gentleman working the ramp sprayed the wings with some kind of garden sprayer that he had to pump. He told me they were using it on all the university aircraft and it was to remove and...
www.pilotsofamerica.com www.pilotsofamerica.com
 
If it is sunny in the morning, make sure the sun is hitting the wings and it will melt the snow and ice, even if the OAT is below freezing. You can towel it off once it starts to melt. Sometimes you can use a warm towel (heat it with hot water) to speed the process. Be patient.
 
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Credit card? I missed a opportunity to use my checklist.
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Stewartb said:
RV anti freeze in a SS garden sprayer I heat on the stove. The fluid temperature is the most important de-icer.
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How would you heat it if no stove around? The house we're renting is a 15 minute drive from the airport. The little terminal building doesn't have a stove, just a microwave. Could I microwave it?

GeorgeC said:
paging @eman1200
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Why? His profile says he's from Oakland, CA. Does he know what ice and frost is?
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Why? His profile says he's from Oakland, CA. Does he know what ice and frost is?
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yeah, he does know. your geographical discrimination and lack of inclusion is disturbing here. we get a good half day a year or so of ice so yeah, I'm pretty qualified on the different states of matter. besides, deicers hate this one simple trick.......... which I will now refrain from passing on to the GA community, thanks to you.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
How would you heat it if no stove around? The house we're renting is a 15 minute drive from the airport. The little terminal building doesn't have a stove, just a microwave. Could I microwave it?



Why? His profile says he's from Oakland, CA. Does he know what ice and frost is?
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It’ll stay warm for hours. My drive time was 20 minutes. It stays warm.
 
I push the power lever forward and go fly, the frost burns off in no time! Seriously, I am not kidding. I don't do that at short runways with no place to go after take off. But, I have tried it at long runways where I can take off and land 3 times before running out of runway.
In my little kit plane, I have tested taking off with a couple inches of snow on the wings, its gone pretty quickly. But a couple of spots over the cabin still have snow even after a flight.
 
A few years ago, I tried to find a small electric immersion heater to use with a garden sprayer but didn’t have the best luck in that quest. They do exist for things like livestock water tanks but getting one a manageable size is where I drew a blank.
 
I’m an airline guy, so may be out if the loop. That said… pouring antifreeze on your airplane on the ramp???
Any repercussions for the drainage??
 
TKS fluid is designed for deicing aircraft. It is a mix of ethylene glycol and alcohol.

RV antifreeze also works well, and safer for wildlife around. You can heat it at home and it will be warm enough. Add some isopropyl alcohol to help do the melting.

And you don't POUR it on the airplane, you spray a mist with a garden sprayer. A 1 gallon sprayer will last several applications.
 
Wagondriver said:
I push the power lever forward and go fly, the frost burns off in no time! Seriously, I am not kidding. I don't do that at short runways with no place to go after take off. But, I have tried it at long runways where I can take off and land 3 times before running out of runway.
In my little kit plane, I have tested taking off with a couple inches of snow on the wings, its gone pretty quickly. But a couple of spots over the cabin still have snow even after a flight.
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Ditto, sometimes. Beware that dirty wings fly in ground effect but may not climb out if it. Anyone who experiments with it needs to be aware that they’re a test pilot.
 
Wagondriver said:
I push the power lever forward and go fly, the frost burns off in no time! Seriously, I am not kidding. I don't do that at short runways with no place to go after take off. But, I have tried it at long runways where I can take off and land 3 times before running out of runway.
In my little kit plane, I have tested taking off with a couple inches of snow on the wings, its gone pretty quickly. But a couple of spots over the cabin still have snow even after a flight.
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I understood it took something near 300 indicated to burn ice and frost off of a surface?
 
I use a heated hangar. Last time it was frosted outside I scrubbed it with a towel. Back when I was outdoors all the time, I usually could spin it around so it was facing the sun and things would dissipate quickly. That's the advantage of having a dark paint color.

MauleSkinner said:
Pee is 98 degrees F.

But probably highly corrosive, so choose wisely. ;)
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This reminds me of the discussion about what to try to deice the ramp with. Someone suggested urea. Others asked where you can get that. The response was "First, you drink a lot of coffee."
 
Depends - people don't like it, but I've used warm water. When done under the correct conditions and knowledge, it's safe - used to melt frost when the temp is at or just below freezing and low humidity. When not used right, you create a popsicle.

I get that it can refreeze, which is part of the correct conditions and knowledge. Somehow our club has done it a hundred times every winter for 50 years and nobody has frozen controls. Normalization of deviancy or use of tools the right way?

Otherwise, mainly the sun and time.
 
kaiser said:
I understood it took something near 300 indicated to burn ice and frost off of a surface?
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wings are clean quickly at 130 indicated.
Perhaps it matters what the relative humidity is?
 
Sublimation occurs in a mild breeze. Skywagon speeds makes it happen faster.
 
I spray warm TKS fluid on the plane, then squeejee. To warm the fluid, as a start, keep the TKS container indoors, not out in the cold plane. Then pour some in a garden sprayer, which you'll want to warm. To warm it, bring a big bucket to the airport and fill it halfway with hot water from a kitchen for example, and place the garden sprayer in that bucket to warm the fluid. Warmth makes a huge difference for TKS, in melting ice. Then spray the plane and squeejee. For the latter, I use a silicone water blade that's intended for cars, about 12" wide (California Car Jelly Blade). This procedure works great. Bring gloves and maybe a change of clothes because you may get wet, which isn't fun in the cold.
 
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FWIW, I’ve never wiped RV anti freeze off and I’ve never had it re-freeze. Fly it off. No trace of color is left on my white wings. No way in hell am I getting wet in below freezing temps when there’s no benefit.

For soft frost the best remedy may be a jute rope. Use a rope with a sawing action to buff the frost off. Clear ice needs heat or sublimation (fly it off) depending on how thick and rough it is. My wings have VGs so no roping. Most of my RV anti freeze use has been for hard ice that formed under wing covers from warmer, wetter weather turning cold. We have to peel the covers off and it leaves an imprint of the weave and every wrinkle. Soft frost is much easier to deal with.
 
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I am simply amazed at the number of experimental test pilots on this forum.

Taking off with ANY amount of snow, ice, frost on the wings makes you an experimental test pilot flying an unflown/untested airfoil.

I will NOT attempt to fly any aircraft with ANY frozen surface contamination.
 
You don’t know what you don’t know. Nothing wrong with that if you’re happy. Not everyone feels the same. For many years the FAA had a procedure for polishing frost smooth prior to flight. The zero tolerance for frost is relatively recent.
 
Pinecone said:
I am simply amazed at the number of experimental test pilots on this forum.

Taking off with ANY amount of snow, ice, frost on the wings makes you an experimental test pilot flying an unflown/untested airfoil.

I will NOT attempt to fly any aircraft with ANY frozen surface contamination.
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Sweet, I get to use the pickup line "I'm a test pilot" with the ladies now! ;)
 
April/May

Actually I've never had any frost or ice form inside my unheated hanger.
 
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