When it comes to flying safely, deicing is as important to small aircraft at remote airports as 737s at big ones. However, the economics associated with conventional deicing systems can make them too expensive for many small airports to install.
To fill this gap, Wing Armor of Saint-Colomban, Quebec, has developed the Jetstream towable deicing system. It is small enough “to be loaded into the baggage door of a de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft, so it may be flown to remote airports that have limited road access,” said Walter Randa, Wing Armor’s founder and CEO. Yet the Jetstream has enough fluid capacity and delivery power to fully deice personal and business aircraft, he told AIN, and even clear off frost and light snow off a 737.
Here’s the nitty-gritty. The Jetstream deicer unit can hold up to 150 gallons of deicing fluid. Its onboard 400,000 BTU heater and element can keep that fluid “at a pre-heat temperature of 40 deg Celsius [90 deg F] so the fluid can be rapidly brought to 80 deg Celsius,” said Randa. The Jetstream sprays three to four gallons of deicing fluid per minute via a 38-inch spray gun with a variety of settings. This is connected to a reeled 100-foot-long reinforced hose mounted on the JETstream towable unit.
The deicing spray system is powered by a gas-fueled Honda generator, while the 400,000-BTU heater consumes diesel fuel. “Since it sprays only three to four GPM, it is ecologically safe, and yet provides a powerful spray to melt most types of contamination found on fixed-wing and rotorcraft aircraft,” Randa said. The Jetstream also has an onboard digital meter that precisely measures the amount of deicing fluid consumed.
With its ability to be moved to any airport that a Dash 8 flies into, the Jetstream deicing unit can be deployed at remote airports and gravel airstrips—anywhere that has a hangar and a tractor capable of towing the unit onto the tarmac. “What you would expect from a big deicing truck, you can get from this small unit,” said Randa. “With its low-pressure spray, it can be used safely on small aircraft and helicopter rotors.” Wing Armor provides onsite training programs to bring ground crew up to speed on how to operate the system safely.
Manufacturing of the Jetstream deicer is done at Wing Armor’s new plant in Vankleek Hill, Ontario. This is just west of the Ontario/Quebec border, and close to the 401 highway that links the plant to Montreal and Toronto—including a number of airports capable of handling Dash 8 aircraft.
“We're looking to promote the Jetstream to all the people out there who are looking for a very affordable option to deice small- or medium-sized aircraft and helicopters,” Randa said.
In addition to its Jetstream towable deicing unit, Wing Armor also sells in-hangar anti-icing treatment systems. This towable cart uses an Eagle air compressor to spray up to 60 gallons of anti-icing fluid at a time, via two spray guns on 75-foot hose reels, allowing both wings to be anti-iced simultaneously. It has two Turbo XL digital meters that will accurately measure the amount of anti-icing fluid sprayed from each gun, while four 10-inch tubeless tires make it easy to maneuver the cart by hand, even with a full tank of fluid.
The fact that the Wing Armor tank comes with a wide two-inch filler neck makes it quick to refill, while a built-in brass ball valve ensures operator safety whenever the tank’s cap has to be removed for refilling.