Andrew Sarangan wrote:

Jay Honeck wrote:

My A&P mechanic works a day job, in addition to doing small-plane
maintenance. He is in charge of local maintenance on DC-9s that fly
for a major freight hauler.

Our part of the world got hit with a pretty decent winter storm over
the weekend, which resulted in "his" DC-9 being coated with over 1/4"
of ice before it started to snow. In order to remove that ice before
departing, they had to spray over 1,800 gallons of deicing fluid on
that single DC-9.

And, since this isn't being done at a major airport (which would have
deicing stations to catch all that stuff), there is no recycling of
that fluid. It just goes away...all $3600+ worth of it.

Now multiply that times all the aircraft that had to fly during that
2-day storm...

If you ever wondered why it costs so much to ship a box of chocolates
cross-country, now you know...

;-)
--



Would it not be more economical to move the airplane in a large heated
hangar? I realize this may not be practical at major airports.


I'd say it is ONLY possible at major airports. How many small to medium
size airports have a hangar that will accomodate even one DC-9 let alone
several?

Matt