12
ERDC/CRREL TR-02-13
a. Deice time.
By the 50% criterion, deice time is significant in Germany and Korea, and at
Fort Drum, Fort Wainwright, and Fort Belvoir (Table 2). The commander of the
4-123rd Aviation Regiment at Fort Wainwright stated that all CH-47s are left on
the ramp during winter, and that aircraft preparation is two hours with no ice and
much more with ice. Although the commander of the 421st MEDEVAC Bat-
talion, V Corps in Wiesbaden, Germany, rated deice time as a moderate impact
on mission accomplishment, his written comment was that "time is critical when
first-up aircraft require deice." The comments of commanders who rated deice
time as a low impact on mission accomplishment indicate that their aircraft are
usually hangared (Belgium) or are hangared in advance of icing conditions to
avoid the necessity to deice (Germany, Korea, Indiana, Fort Eustis), especially
where alert aircraft are involved. Mission impact is also low where icing condi-
tions are uncommon (Germany, Korea, Fort Campbell). The commander of the
1-160th SOAR at Fort Campbell, who rated deice time as low impact, described
it as not having been a "mission stopper"; deicing is accomplished by placing
aircraft in a warm hangar followed by using deice fluid.
Table 2. Commanders' ratings (by location) of mission impact due to time
currently required to deice aircraft.
% of
No. of
moderate % of high
moderate No. of high
% of low
No. of low
ratings
ratings
ratings
ratings
ratings
Location
ratings
Belgium
0
0
100
0
0
1
Germany
6
1
50
43
7
7
Korea*
3
1
43
43
14
3
Fort Drum, NY
1
2
0
33
67
0
Fort Campbell, KY
0
1
75
0
25
3
Fort Wainwright, AK
0
1
0
0
100
0
Fort Belvoir, VA
0
1
0
0
100
0
Fort Eustis, VA
0
0
100
0
0
1
USAR
Fort Sheridan, IL
0
0
100
0
0
2
National Guard
Indiana
0
0
100
0
0
1
Minnesota
0
0
100
0
0
1
* Two returned questionnaires from HQ, 17th Aviation Brigade, Seoul, Korea.
Note: The total number of ratings per location corresponds to the number of commanders'
questionnaires returned from each location.
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