AN A300 WAS NOT COMPLETELY DEICED AND ARRIVED AT ITS DESTINATION WHERE ICE FELL FROM INSIDE THE CARGO DOOR. SLUGGISH FLT CHARACTERISTICS WERE NOTED.

Date: 2007-01 · Aircraft: A300 · Phase: ground

Anomalies: deviation-discrepancy-procedural-published-material-policy|deviation-discrepancy-procedural-far

Synopsis

AN A300 WAS NOT COMPLETELY DEICED AND ARRIVED AT ITS DESTINATION WHERE ICE FELL FROM INSIDE THE CARGO DOOR. SLUGGISH FLT CHARACTERISTICS WERE NOTED.

Narrative

WE ARRIVED AT THE ARPT AROUND XA10 PM LCL TIME. THE PRESENT WX CONDITIONS WERE 9 DEGS AND VFR. THE TEMP HAD REACHED 20 DEGS THAT DAY AND THE SKY HAD BEEN CLR ALL DAY. THE SLEET AND SNOW HAD STOPPED SUNDAY EVENING. THE ACFT WAS PARKED AT THE REMOTE RAMP. I QUERIED AT THE GATEWAY ABOUT WHY THE ACFT WAS NOT DEICED EARLIER IN THE DAY. NO ANSWER WAS GIVEN. WE WERE TOLD WE COULD NOT GO TO THE ACFT BECAUSE OF THE CONDITION OF THE ACFT. I CALLED SYS OPS AND MY DISPATCHER. THE GATEWAY INFORMED ME THAT THE AREA AROUND THE ACFT WAS TREACHEROUS; AND THE ACFT HAD TO BE DEICED. SOMEONE FROM ZZZ1 CALLED THE GATEWAY AND THE LADY IN OPS EXPLAINED THE SAME THING TO THEM. WE WERE INFORMED BY THE GATEWAY THAT THE PERSON IN CHARGE OF DEICING WAS ON THE WAY IN. THIS PERSON ARRIVED AT XB00 PM; 27 MINS PRIOR TO DEP. WE FINALLY WERE TAKEN TO THE ACFT AT APPROX XB15 PM. THE ACFT STILL HAD ICICLES HANGING FROM THE FUSELAGE AND WINGS. ONE COMPANY TRUCK AND ONE VENDOR WERE STILL DEICING THE ACFT. I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO DO MY FIRST WALKAROUND AT XB30 PM. 1500 GALS OF DEICING FLUID HAD ALREADY BEEN APPLIED. THERE WAS STILL ICE ALL OVER THE ACFT. THE SECOND DEICE SEQUENCE WAS STARTED WHEN I WENT UPSTAIRS TO COMPLETE THE INTERIOR PREFLT. THE MECH WAS WORKING ON 3 DEFERRALS FOR THE FUEL SYS. THE INSIDE WAS JUST AS COLD AS THE OUTSIDE DUE TO NOT BEING ABLE TO USE THE APU BECAUSE OF DEICING. THE ACFT SYS WERE COLD SOAKED AND GIVING NUMEROUS PROBS SINCE THEY WERE NOT WARMED UP. I PERFORMED A SECOND PREFLT AND FOUND ICE STILL ON THE ACFT. THE MECH HAD JUST FINISHED THE DEFERRALS AND I GOT HIM TO WALK AROUND THE ACFT AND SHOWED HIM THE ICE STILL LEFT ON THE ACFT. HE ASKED TOP BECAUSE THE APU WAS DUMPING SMOKE INTO THE ACFT. NO ONE FROM THE GND SIDE CONFERRED WITH THE FLT CREW OR MAINT PRIOR TO STARTING DEICE AGAIN AND THAT THE APU HAD BEEN SECURED. WE SECURED THE ACFT AND THE ACFT WAS DEICED IN THE BLOCKS. AFTER THEY FINISHED THE MECH SAID THE ACFT WAS CLEAN. WE PERFORMED A NORMAL ENG START AND TAXIED TO RWY 19R. WE ACCOMPLISHED 2 ENG RUN-UPS WITH ALL SYS OPS NORMAL. WE DID A MAX PWR TKOF; AND TKOF WAS NORMAL. DURING THE CLBOUT; THE ACFT FELT EXTREMELY SLUGGISH. THE ACFT FELT LIKE WE WERE CARRYING A LOT OF EXTRA WT. WE NOTIFIED FLT CTL THAT WE NEEDED AN ICE INSPECTION ON LNDG IN ZZZ2 AND TO HAVE THE DEICE CART READY. I THOUGHT MAYBE WE HAD A BLOCK OF ICE IN THE BELLY. THE WX BTWN ZZZ AND ZZZ2 WERE VFR NO CLOUDS OR PRECIP ENCOUNTERED. AFTER LNDG IN ZZZ2 I STARTED TO WALK AROUND THE ACFT AND FOUND ICE STILL ALL OVER THE ACFT. I SHOWED THE MECH AND MY COPLT ALL THE ICE. THE ACFT WAS COVERED WITH CLR ICE (EXTREMELY COVERED IN ICE). THE 4TH DEICE EVENT TOOK PLACE; AND AN ADDITIONAL 400 GALS AND 45 MINS WERE SPENT ON DEICING. THIS TIME THE MECH INSTRUCTED THE DEICE OP. WE DEPARTED ZZZ2 AND THE ACFT PERFORMED NORMAL; AND WITH NORMAL RESPONSES. ON ARR AT ZZZ1 I OPENED THE CARGO DOOR AND BLOCKS OF ICE FELL FROM INSIDE THE ACFT TO THE GND. ALL THE WATER DRAINS HAD WATER POURING OUT AT A FAST RATE. MAINT INQUIRED WHAT WE HAVE BEEN THROUGH. I EXPLAINED THE ACFT WAS IN ZZZ FOR THE WINTER WX. I CARRIED THE ICE INTO THE STATION OPS. THE BLOCK WAS THICK AND 5 INCHES WIDE. OBVIOUSLY; THE REMAINDER WAS LEFT AT AND ON THE ACFT. I BELIEVE THE ICE IN ZZZ WAS MASKED BY ALL THE DEICE FLUID AND THE DEICING PROCESS WAS STARTED EXTREMELY TOO LATE. THE AMOUNT OF ICE AND SNOW ON THE ACFT DEMANDED MORE ATTN BY THE DEICE CREWS THAN WAS GIVEN. IN THE FUTURE; I WILL INSPECT THE ACFT WITH A TACTILE INSPECTION PROCESS AS PERFORMED BY ACR; THE LEADER IN DEICE TECHNOLOGY. ACR LEARNED THE HARD WAY AFTER THE LOSS OF NUMEROUS ACFT THAT THE TACTILE INSPECTION WAS ESSENTIAL TO ENSURE FLT SAFETY. IN ADDITION; DEICING AFTER EXTREME CONDITIONS; AS TOOK PLACE IN ZZZ THIS WEEKEND; CALL FOR THE DEICE PROCESS TO TAKE PLACE HRS BEFORE DEP. THIS WOULD HAVE ENSURED THAT THE FLUID HAD DRAINED OFF THE ACFT AND POSSIBLY NOT MASK THE ICE. THIS HOPEFULLY WILL PREVENT A MORE SERIOUS EVENT FROM TAKING PLACE. OUR DEICE SYSFAILED. I ENCOURAGE US TO ALL REVIEW OUR PROCESSES AND IMPROVE THE DEICE SYS.

Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.