It is the process of removing ice from a surface. Most commonly referring to liquids applied to the wings of aircraft, deicing can also be done by other means and on other surfaces.
When there are freezing conditions and precipitation, it is critical that an airplane be deiced. Failure to do so means the airplane's wings will be too rough to be aerodynamic, thereby causing a loss of lift, and resulting in a crash to the ground. Because of the potentially severe consequence, deicing is performed at airports where temperatures are likely to dip below the freezing point.
Deicing on the ground is usually done by spraying aircraft with a liquid such as propylene glycol, similar to the ethylene glycol antifreeze used in automobile engine coolants. While less toxic than its automotive counterpart, it still must be used with a containment system to capture all of the used liquid, so that it cannot seep into the ground and streams. (In one case, a significant snow in Atlanta in early January 2002 caused an overflow of such a system, briefly contaminating the Flint River downstream of the Atlanta airport.)
Deicing on the ground is usually done by spraying aircraft with a liquid such as propylene glycol, similar to the ethylene glycol antifreeze used in automobile engine coolants. While less toxic than its automotive counterpart, it still must be used with a containment system to capture all of the used liquid, so that it cannot seep into the ground and streams. (In one case, a significant snow in Atlanta in early January 2002 caused an overflow of such a system, briefly contaminating the Flint River downstream of the Atlanta airport.)
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