Word: snow
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Many times during a winter snow I have sat at the airport as attendants sprayed de-icer on the wings. Nevertheless, I always felt assured that the airline, the FAA, the professionals in the tower and the pilot had analyzed all the factors necessary for a safe takeoff. I never worried. Well, maybe we should worry. The FAA needs to rethink the rules on flying in inclement weather...
...snow swirled down on Washington that Wednesday afternoon, the drivers creeping past National Airport could barely see their way. Some even parked on the road and stepped out into the blizzard to clean their windshields of the sticky snow before driving farther. On the runways at National, the snow and ice were just as bad. Several of the idling jetliners returned to their bays more than once to be cleared of snow and ice and swabbed with glycol antifreeze...
...Alan Pettit, 31, the copilot, initially expressed concern about the icy conditions, as he would again and again. Twenty minutes after the 737's last glycol wash, Pettit joked: "Maybe we can taxi upside a some [727] sittin' there runnin' [and] blow off whatever [ice and snow have built up on the wings]." Several minutes later Pettit remarked, "It's been a while since we've been de-iced." He remained astonished by the weather. "See all those icicles on the back there and everything?" Minutes later Pettit said, "Boy, this is a losing battle...
...weather, never mentioned to the control tower their concern about the ice each saw building up on the wings. Pettit said only to his pilot: "This one's got about a quarter to half an inch [of ice] on it." Despite the unequivocal federal regulation against flying with snow, frost or ice on the wings or engines, they taxied out to take off. Pettit was at the controls. "Slushy runway. Do you want me to do anything special for it or just go for it?" he asked. Wheaton: "Unless you got anything special you'd like...
...feel sorry for some guys. Harvard deals out some of its best hands the last couple of weeks--reading period, exams, snow, ice, freezing weather--and what does the Harvard men's tennis team do? Head to California for sun, surf, girls, good vibrations, and all that jazz. Not to mention an extremely impressive showing in last week's ITCA National Team Championships...