Originally Posted by
sunburn
Well nothing more fun that being held hostage to a flight crew that doesnt think physics applies to them. During the recent snow storm in NRT, I was deadheading out on China Southern flt 386. We boarded and had a clean wing, but soon started to accumulate. From boarding to takeoff, was approx 2hr and the company never deiced. I was sure we were going to get squirted at the end of the runway but the pilot whipped onto the runway and immeadiately pushed up the power. I would estimate we had 2inches of clutter on the wings on takeoff roll. At 10000 ft we still had 20% of the wing covered with ice. See links for photos. First one was about 60 minutes before takeoff when he configured. By takeoff it was 2 to 3 times as thick. Second picture is during climbout after about 10minutes.
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/...psa47fccd5.jpg
http://i1282.photobucket.com/albums/...psee32e5b1.jpg
I know Fedex wants to save money on airfares, but this was outright dangerous, and I feel lucky to be alive. There were four fedex crewmembers on board this flight that might not have been here if Boeing hadn't made such an awesome wing on their 737. I've filed a ops report as have several of the other guys, I just hope we stop using these guys. Pl
Am I the only one thinking- Man, we have been wasting a huge amount of money and time on this whole deicing business- after seeing this? I saw that Russian Airbus video a few months ago, and now this. ***? I thought something like one-one-millionth of a centimeter of frost can reduce your lift by 800%. Maybe the deicing fluid industry is in bed with the FAA? Screw it, I'm not wasting any more time at the deice pad ever again. I'm going 'Chinese Style'!