De-Icing 101: Winter Private Jet Travel And Aircraft De-Icing
In order to remove the buildup of ice and snow on the wings and nose and ensure safe and efficient performance, your aircraft may need to be sprayed with de-icing fluid prior to your departure. The decision to initiate de-icing is done at the discretion of your flight crew, and you may be required to deplane while the aircraft undergoes the de-icing process for your comfort and safety. How long the process takes is dependent on several factors, from weather specifics to whether or not precipitation is actively falling to which chemicals are used; it will also naturally take longer to de-ice a larger aircraft. Ultimately, the process could set you back anywhere from 5-10 minutes to 30-40 minutes ; it could take even longer if there is a long line of aircraft waiting to be de-iced.
De-icing is an extremely important and necessary safety precaution, but if you haven’t accounted for it in the course of planning your travel, it can result in unexpected delays as well as high costs. What you pay for de-icing varies depending on the FBO, the type of fluid used, the amount of fluid needed based on conditions, and the size of your aircraft, but in some instances, it can run as high as $10,000 .
Why is it so expensive? All airports must have a plan for limiting the deice fluid run-off, designating areas for deicing, or recapturing the deice fluid after its been used. The price per gallon is extremely expensive and even a small aircraft covered in snow and ice may require hundreds of gallons of the fluid.
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