Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubicon
Aircraft Ops:
Things stood out here. First is the clear evidence that a central de-ice facility is needed. Deicing at the gate really slows down everything and needs to be centralized. Second thing (I think Acey had mentioned this) is it seems like the airside space between the C gates and D/E was poorly set up. On our return we gated at D73 (I think) and there was a single AC A319 pushing off the C side, and we had to wait for this to finish before we could get in. Seems pretty inefficient when the only two aircraft in the whole area cannot simultaneously move.
|
I thought that central de icing would be the preferred method until I flew out of an airport that had such a facility this winter. Central de-icing wasn't any quicker or efficient. It actually seemed to take longer because there was more stopping and waiting. We were pushed back from the gate but had to wait on the pad for quite a while. Then we started to taxi towards the facility but we had to hold twice to allow other aircrafts to proceed. Finally at the de-icing facility we seemed to have a lower proirity in a smaller aircraft as larger planes proceeded before us. Maybe that was just a uniquely bad experience but it seemed to take forever and the system in Calgary seemed better.