Aircraft and ground maintenance questionnaire

ERDC/CRREL TR-02-13

of its extremely congested hangar to avoid damaging the aircraft. One hour per

workday is dedicated to maneuvering scheduled aircraft in and out of the hangar.

However, if there were hangar space (uncongested) for all the aircraft of the 2-

10th, then the difficulties associated with maneuvering aircraft would be reduced

or even eliminated. As noted by a respondent from the 421st MEDEVAC Bat-

talion in Wiesbaden, Germany, "hangaring aircraft prior to flight is undoubtedly

the best method [to protect aircraft from icing] and keeping emergency response

aircraft hangared continuously is also preferred." His recommendation is that

funding intended for deice facilities be used to build larger, more spacious

hangars. Another respondent from the 421st notes, however, that on deployments

problems may accrue in environments without proper facilities [hangars].

Aircraft are deiced by several methods (Aircraft and Ground Maintenance

questionnaire, Part D, "How is pre-flight deicing accomplished at your facility,

and roughly how much time is required to deice each aircraft?"). Manual removal

of snow, perhaps in conjunction with heated air, is the approach relied upon by

most units. If hangar space is available, aircraft are moved inside so that deicing

is assisted by the warmer air temperature within the building. The amount of time

to deice an aircraft in a hangar ranges from one to four hours, and depends on the

amount of ice coating the aircraft and on whether heat from an Auxiliary Ground

Power Unit (AGPU) or Herman Nelson heater is used. The 7-159th Avn Regt

(AVIM) in Illesheim, Germany, reports four hours to deice aircraft even when

using a Herman Nelson heater. If the aircraft is deiced outside, the estimate from

the F-159th (MHC) in Giebelstadt, Germany, is three to four hours to clear the

rotor blades and two to three hours to clear the airframe, or approximately six

to seven hours. Six hours also was reported by the 1-501st (ATK) in Hanau,

Germany, for deicing aircraft in the hangar when deicing fluid and a heater

"didn't work." At some locations, deicing an aircraft outside would be imprac-

ticable. The 2-10th Avn Regiment (Assault) at Fort Drum experiences extreme

cold (30F) and intense periods of falling snow and high winds. The unit notes

that its organic deice systems (AGPU) cannot adequately manage with the

extreme cold experienced at Fort Drum.

On a scale of 1 (negligible) to 5 (significant), 75% of the respondents rated

the amount of damage to aircraft caused by deicing techniques as negligible or

none (respondents often added their own categories to the response selection on

the questionnaire, in this case adding none or no damage). Altogether 92% of the

respondents rated aircraft damage as a three or lower. The only units to rate the

damage higher (five in both cases) were the 1-4th Cavalry Squadron in Schwein-

furt, Germany, and 2-10th Avn Reg (Assault) at Fort Drum. The comment from

the Schweinfurt unit is that the damage can be "up to five if someone isn't care-

ful with AGPU heat," which can damage the leading edge material on the blade