An Inside Look At Delta Air Lines’ Deice Training

While winter does not officially begin for another few months, Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is already preparing for the deicing season. Since the winter months are the crews’ regular season, the training occurs now.

Delta’s deicing facility is located near Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP), one of the carrier’s hubs. Every year, employees in its deicing operation across the country meet at MSP to learn about the latest techniques and procedures for deicing aircraft.

“The world’s best deicers”

Delta’s Airport Customer Service Learning and Development team recently hosted its annual deicing boot camp at MSP, where around 400 deicing experts from across the carrier’s operation attended for education and training. According to the airline, more than 250 Delta employees are trained deicers at MSP. During last year’s winter season, they deiced over 14,000 departing aircraft at the airport, more than 20% of the nearly 66,000 Delta flights that were deiced across the entire operation.

The airline also said its deicing at MSP was done on far more flights than at any other airport in the operation, such as its other hubs in Detroit and Salt Lake City. At Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW), the airline deiced 8,255 planes last year, while 8,160 were deiced at Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC).

Phot: Delta Air Lines

Outside of Delta’s deicing facility, a banner says, “MSP: Home of the world’s best deicers.” The carrier said the sign is not only a rallying message for the deicers at MSP but for all of its deicers, no matter where they are based, from Alaska to Florida.

Jeannine Ashworth, Delta’s Vice President of MSP Operations, commented on the work of the airline’s deicing employees.

“I would say they set the gold standard for deicing. The team does an amazing job to ensure the safety of our customers, our people and our aircraft.”

Getting hands-on practice

The top priority of deicing is to ensure a safe and smooth operation through the winter season, according to the airline. The boot camp is a train-the-trainer event with several groups rotating through sessions throughout the summer. Each boot camp reportedly includes computer training, instructor demonstrations, and hands-on practice where trainees spray aircraft with just water instead of the deicing fluid normally used in the operation.

Photo: Delta Air Lines

The fluid is a combination of warm water and propylene glycol, a chemical that has a lower freezing point and also absorbs water. Mixing it with water makes a fluid with a decreased freezing point, allowing snow and ice to fall off the plane and prevent reaccumulation.

Delta said the runoff of the deicing fluid used on its planes flows into a special drainage system that goes into tanks. The liquid is then separated, leaving the propylene glycol to be refined and used for other purposes.

Once the trainees complete the boot camp, they become trainers and return to their home airports to pass on their knowledge and experience to hundreds of other employees, providing consistent and accurate training.

“The training really recenters everything. It gets all of us on the same page,” said Michael Ruby, Delta’s DTW-based deicing instructor. “We’re all presenting and implementing the material in the same way. Consistency is so important.”