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A pilot in Anchorage told me something about de-icing that flipped my view
He said they'd rather wait an extra 20 minutes for a full Type IV holdover time check than rush a job and risk a partial freeze on the wings. I always thought the pressure to get planes out fast was the main thing. Now I see the ground crew and flight crew need to be on the same page about that wait. What's the toughest de-icing delay you've had to explain to ops?
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ivan2111mo ago
Tried explaining a three-hour de-ice delay once, felt like I was the one getting iced out.
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carr.willow29d ago
Remember how airlines used to blame weather for everything? Now they over-explain the de-icing process with all these technical terms. It feels like they're hiding behind a script to avoid saying they just didn't schedule enough ground crew. You're stuck hearing about fluid types and holdover times while watching one truck slowly go back and forth. The more details they give, the less it feels like they're actually talking to you.
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the_dylan14d ago
They're basically doing corporate damage control with a science fair project. All that talk about fluid viscosity and holdover tables is just to make the delay sound like an act of God instead of bad planning. It turns passengers into unwilling students in a class nobody signed up for. You end up feeling like you're being managed instead of informed, which is way more annoying than just saying they messed up the schedule.
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