Question for any VA cabin crew

quote:Originally posted by pjh
quote:Originally posted by dpscrest
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Irony is I flew back into STN (nearest airport to me) next day and saw a few BA 744's which had been diverted. I was gutted!


They were probably full of passengers originally bound for Spain...[:)]

BA were still diverting LGW flights to STN last week. I saw a very disconsolate BA group in the terminal on my arrival there last Thursday evening. Given that BA has no presence at STN, I wonder who ended up dealing with them? At least they only had hopefully a short-ish coach trip ahead of them, though I did hear that the standard STN-LGW coach was taking 5 hours to do the trip.

Paul


And so were VA - we were warned that there was a 'possibility' thay our flight on Weds eve/Thurs AM (infact all Thurs in the end) might have to divert to Stn which would mean coachses for most and CDCs for some from there to London. In the end it didnt happen but we did endure a very long wait after landing until a gate could be de-iced and made safe. [y]

I think you'll find that quite a few de-icing companys are running short of fluid. The one we use has plenty but is having to turn other airlines away to keep stock for it's regulars.

In the 'good old days' BA (& BMi) had their own de-icing trucks & maintained their own stocks of fluid, now it's all contracted out.

quote:Originally posted by Denzil
I think you'll find that quite a few de-icing companys are running short of fluid. The one we use has plenty but is having to turn other airlines away to keep stock for it's regulars.

In the 'good old days' BA (& BMi) had their own de-icing trucks & maintained their own stocks of fluid, now it's all contracted out.

As long as they don't try to water it down to go further as one MAN company tried [:o)]
When it costs up to 7/lt and can take a few thousand litres to de-ice an aircraft, it is no small issue - lots of amenity packs there.

It was reported that one 747 took 20,000lt to de-ice [:0] It had not been anti-iced, was hit by slush/rain which then froze, followed by snow and freezing temps. Result 'a big igloo'.

Bill S, you get what you pay for (we don't pay anywhere near 7 either), in the UK it is normally mixed 75%/25% (de-ice fluid/water) & served hot (80Deg). You are supplied with a certificate informing you of the start time (important for holdover time) & the fluid type/mix & litres. NEVER seen 20,000 litres used though.

The fluid used is very ECO friendly now (closest thing to it is shampoo apparently), downside is that is nowhere near as good. One thing for sure it has got to be done right.

quote:Originally posted by Denzil
Bill S, you get what you pay for (we don't pay anywhere near 7 either), in the UK it is normally mixed 75%/25% (de-ice fluid/water) & served hot (80Deg). You are supplied with a certificate informing you of the start time (important for holdover time) & the fluid type/mix & litres. NEVER seen 20,000 litres used though.

The fluid used is very ECO friendly now (closest thing to it is shampoo apparently), downside is that is nowhere near as good. One thing for sure it has got to be done right.

Not as effective as the piss & phosphate they used to use [:w]
That used to get the enviro. lobby jumping.
As you say the new stuff is more 'friendly'.

Kilfrost is just down the road from here (in the centre of the UK, Scrooge [}:)])
Lots of overtime just now (and lots of tankers rolling out of their plant)

I think the 20,000lt was very exceptional but afaik it quite often is in the thousands for a wide body.

[Scrooge]

There is a thread over on A'Net about deicing planes, the source says
it costs about $4000 to deice a 763, that's roughly 240 gallons of Type one deicer mixed with who knows how much water and the cost of the truck rental ($600 a go), I would assume that deicing a 744 would be around $10000 just based on the extra area involved in the deicing process, which really goes to show, we are in the wrong business guys !

[Darren Wheeler]

Quick, someone pop to Halfords....

quote:Originally posted by Scrooge
There is a thread over on A'Net about deicing planes, the source says
it costs about $4000 to deice a 763, that's roughly 240 gallons of Type one deicer mixed with who knows how much water and the cost of the truck rental ($600 a go), I would assume that deicing a 744 would be around $10000 just based on the extra area involved in the deicing process, which really goes to show, we are in the wrong business guys !

And on PPRuNe.

quote:Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
Quick, someone pop to Halfords....

[:D] They'd only have the cheap non-eco ethylene glycol.
But they'd probably charge as much as for Propylene Type IV!

quote:Originally posted by Bill S
quote:Originally posted by Scrooge
There is a thread over on A'Net about deicing planes, the source says
it costs about $4000 to deice a 763, that's roughly 240 gallons of Type one deicer mixed with who knows how much water and the cost of the truck rental ($600 a go), I would assume that deicing a 744 would be around $10000 just based on the extra area involved in the deicing process, which really goes to show, we are in the wrong business guys !

And on PPRuNe.

quote:Originally posted by Darren Wheeler
Quick, someone pop to Halfords....

[:D] They'd only have the cheap non-eco ethylene glycol.
But they'd probably charge as much as for Propylene Type IV!


Ah ethylene glycol. You mean the very sweet tasting blue stuff that I 'accidently' left in my garden. It's also used to de-ice aircraft? And here was me thinking that its sole purpose was to kill cats that continually defacate on my lawn. [}:)]

quote:Originally posted by sixdownkeepsafedepth
Ah ethylene glycol. You mean the very sweet tasting blue stuff that I 'accidently' left in my garden. It's also used to de-ice aircraft? And here was me thinking that its sole purpose was to kill cats that continually defacate on my lawn. [}:)]

They used to use it - now rarely! Toxic to mammals - cats & humans! You'll get yourself into trouble making comments like that about cats even in jest [B)]
They now use MPG for aircraft de-ice - Mono-Propylene Glycol - more expensive and less toxic.

Similarly on runways - cannot use cheap salt due to aluminium corrosion - so expensive sodium & potassium acetates are used airside in the UK. I believe GLA may be one of the few UK airports still using Konsin (ethylene glycol) due to their high rainfall. Urea used to be used but now banned for enviro. reasons. Some european airports use formates rather than acetate (less smell).

FYI....Complained via their web site and politely got told to F.O

quote:Originally posted by dpscrest
FYI....Complained via their web site and politely got told to F.O

Just have to try VS next time [y]