OK, I apologize for the double pun…but it’s true in both ways.
The ritual of de-icing planes before winter take-offs is costly, time-consuming, and known to be effective, so while many companies are working on ways to do it faster, cheaper or with less chemical runoff, it will take some real proof before an effective method replaces the current effective method.
Some of the technologies being explored, according to this REVIEW in Bloomberg Business news, are different chemicals that might last for weeks, collecting and possibly re-using runoff, and…here’s the other half of the pun…special “heat blankets” built into the wings and body parts of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner that discourage ice buildup. If they turn out to be successful, that might be the real wave of the future.
Photo by Wikimedia/Russavia of Air France A319 being de-iced at Moscow
