Originally Posted by
DTWflyer
Anyone else get caught in the DFW deicing meltdown today? With the wet heavy snow that hit northern TX, the airport was challenging to deal with. My original DFW-DTW was cancelled, got rebooked on DFW-MSP-DTW, but switched to DFW-ATL-DTW (which was the right choice since the DFW-MSP ended up being cancelled after all).
However, DL was completely unprepared to deice aircraft. The inbound flights that weren't cancelled were generally arriving within 30 minutes of the scheduled arrivals.
Flights were pushing off the gate usually within 30 minutes of the scheduled time, however it was taking 2-3 hours to get deiced! This is DL's own deicing crew too. I was shocked to see how unorganized their DFW ops were today. The deicing itself only took about 10 minutes once they started working on the aircraft, but somehow we had to wait almost 3 hours just for them to even get to us. Supposedly, they completely ran out of deicing fluid by late afternoon.
Interestingly, AA and Eagle was using Type IV, while DL was just using Type I to clear the aircraft of the wet snow accumulation.
DTW:
7228 (RON) - 2 hours late
5668 (RON) - 4 hours late
3518 - cancelled
3470 - left gate 30 minutes late, sat waiting to be deiced for 2+ hours, then returned to gate and cancelled
5682 - cancelled
CVG:
6460 (RON) - 1.5 hours late
6607 - cancelled
6346 - 4.5 hours late
MEM:
3926 (RON) - cancelled
3526 - cancelled
3486 - 3.5 hours late
4424 - cancelled
SLC:
4539 (RON) - 2.5 hours late
4687 - cancelled
4445 - cancelled
4783 - cancelled
MSP:
3503 (RON) - 30 minutes late
5772 - 2 hours late
3549 - 1.5 hours late
5677 - 9 hours late
7392 - left gate 30 minutes late, sat on taxiway waiting to deice for 2 hours, then returned to gate and cancelled
3462 - 4 hours late
JFK:
6473 - 3 hours late
ATL:
1912 (RON) - 20 minutes late
1914 (RON) - 1.5 hours late
1916 - 2.5 hours late
2014 - 1.5 hours late
1920 - canceled
66 - 6 hours late
1924 - 4 hours late
1084 - 2.5 hours late
1926 - 3 hours late
1928 - cancelled
1930 - cancelled
where is the Type IV vs Type I info coming from?
No southern airport has enough de-ice equiopment to support the type
of weather they are getting.
It will take days for ATL DL to recover what is happening their today.
The Society of Automotive Engineers publishes standards (SAE AMS 1428 & AMS 1424) for four different types of aviation deicing fluids:
Type I fluids have a low viscosity, and are considered "unthickened". They provide only short term protection because they quickly flow off surfaces after use. They are typically sprayed on hot (130° - 180° F) at high pressure to remove snow, ice, and frost. Usually they are dyed orange to aid in identification and application.
Type II fluids are "pseudoplastic", which means they contain a polymeric thickening agent to prevent their immediate flow off aircraft surfaces. Typically the fluid film will remain in place until the aircraft attains 100 knots or so, at which point the viscosity breaks down due to shear stress. The high speeds required for viscosity breakdown means that this type of fluid is useful only for larger aircraft. The use of type II fluids is diminishing in favour of type IV. Type II fluids are generally light yellow in color.
Type III fluids can be thought of as a compromise between type I and type II fluids. They are intended for use on slower aircraft, with a rotation speed of less than 100 knots. Type III fluids are gaining acceptance in the regional and business aviation markets. Type III fluids are generally light yellow in color.
Type IV fluids, commonly referred to as anti-icing fluids because an aircraft must first be deiced prior to a Type IV fluid application, meet the same viscosity specifications as type II fluids, but they provide a longer holdover time. They are typically dyed green to aid in the application of a consistent layer of fluid.