Dover’s dedicated de-icers

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Samuel Taylor
  • 436th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  During fiscal year 2011, Dover Air Force Base, Del., handled more than 3,700 aircraft, many during the bitter cold winter months. Some of these aircraft brought in service members from overseas contingency operations, eager to reunite with their families; some carried the remains of service members awaiting a dignified transfer onto American soil; others brought in foreign dignitaries and heads of state. Though each aircraft had a different mission, each was susceptible to a danger inherent of any cold-weather base - ice.

Condensation and freezing temperatures spell danger for aircraft, adding hundreds if not thousands of pounds to their total weight. This excess weight can destabilize the delicate flight characteristics and potentially lead to disaster. It is due to this ever-present risk the 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron's Transient Maintenance Flight, Raptor Flight, and Talon Flight, exist at Dover AFB.

"If there is ice or snow, the planes don't go," said Charles Squash, superintendent with the 436th AMXS Transient Maintenance Flight. "Both can cause excess drag and weight, which impacts lift, controllability, and has caused aircraft to crash. Because of this, transient maintenance, talon, and raptor flights de-ice all foreign, commercial and military aircraft that pass through [Dover Air Force Base]."

To accomplish this mission, de-icing teams devised a simple, time-tested and effective strategy. The flights monitor base weather alerts to get an accurate forecast of future conditions. If freezing rain or snow has fallen, two trucks fitted with special nozzles are dispatched to de-ice the aircraft. Each truck is assigned a spotter, driver and boom operator.

Once the trucks begin spraying, it is a race against time; if the aircraft does not take off within a certain window of time - typically 20-30 minutes - the "type-1" fluid will freeze onto the aircraft and the process will have to be repeated. The trucks work in tandem, each responsible for one half of the aircraft. Spotters ensure the trucks do not damage the aircraft; drivers maneuver the trucks; and boom operators, elevated dozens of feet in the air, orchestrate the entire operation.

According to Scott Phillips, work leader with the 436th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron Transient Maintenance Flight, this process can be completed in less than 45 minutes, or can draw out to several hours of re-sprays if the aircraft repeatedly misses its takeoff window. However long it takes, the ice and snow must be removed quickly, says Phillips.
"I have seen landing gear crack under the weight of ice, and tail-heavy aircraft tipped over backward from built-up snow," said Phillips.

Because of this, the efforts of transient maintenance flight are part of the reason the world's largest aerial port can maintain its wide-ranging mission. The benefits of their work are not measured simply in the number of planes that come and go safely; there is also the immeasurable reward - confidence.

"Operating in icing conditions is inherently dangerous. With transient maintenance flight, raptor flight and talon flight on call, I can be confident of a safe takeoff and landing at Dover Air Force Base year-round," said Capt. Scott Korell, C-5M Super Galaxy evaluator aircraft commander with the 9th Airlift Squadron.