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In cold-weather cities such as Denver and Chicago, de-icing airplanes is as ubiquitous as the season's blizzards and freezing temperatures.
But the frost and ice that has delayed a number of flights out of San Jose and other Bay Area airports this week are so uncommon that airports here are left scrambling to dust off little-used equipment. And one airline, Southwest in San Jose, dealt with frost California Style: It towed planes to sunny spots and let them soak up the sun, a process one official described as "solar de-icing."
"If we use it more than once a year, it's a busy year," San Francisco International Airport spokesman Mike McCarron said of de-icing equipment. "Most airlines rely on solar de-icing.Delta and American have de-icing equipment at San Jose Mineta International Airport, and other airlines lease the equipment.No records were broken Wednesday but in San Jose, the low was a frigid 30 degrees that caused a second day of flight delays at area airports when "de-icing" entered the Bay Area weather lexicon like the unwelcome cold.In San Francisco, Delta and American airlines are the only carriers that have their own equipment. Tuesday and Wednesday, both carriers de-iced their early morning flights, McCarron said. Delays were less than an hour for no more than six flights at the airport, McCarron said.
The process of de-icing planes is relatively easy, Smith said. The equipment used by American Airlines is similar to a bucket truck used to repair telephone poles, and is attached to a tank filled with a heated ethylene glycol solution. Workers blast the plane with a high-pressure hose, a process that typically takes between 15 to 20 minutes, Smith said. In cities where snow and colder temperatures are the norm, a thicker, gel-like anti-icing fluid is applied to the plane.Vossbrink said airlines spend about $1,500 to de-ice a plane.