JFK - Radiant Infrared System Deicing Aircraft

Radiant Energy Corporation says its aircraft deicing system commenced operations at New York's Kennedy Airport in January when a A320 with passengers onboard had snow removed from its surfaces immediately before takeoff. The JFK facility is managed by Penauille Servisair.
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B-747 in InfraTek Deicing Facility at JFK

According to Radiant, its patented InfraTek technology is the only approved alternative to traditional glycol spray for deicing aircraft. The system uses natural gas or propane to produce infrared radiant energy at specific electromagnetic wavelengths that is optimally focused on an aircraft's surface to remove frozen contaminants, without adversely affecting the aircraft, passengers or ground personnel.

Since beginning operation last month, other aircraft have been deiced using the JFK facility, which has completely eliminated the use of glycol in most cases. Deicing time has been comparable or better than if glycol had been applied, Radiant says. The JFK facility can accommodate aircraft as large as B-747s.
This is the second facility Radiant has installed at airports operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; the first system has been in place at Newark since 1999. The Rhinelander-Oneida County Airport in Wisconsin also uses the system, and Oslo's Gardermoen will soon open a facility as well. 02-15-2007.

I would still think that they would require Glycol for Anti Ice, to prevent ice from forming after the de-ice process.

Any word on this Kest?

Hey Dude, I saw this the other day in JFK but I thought it was an un completed Hangar LOL!! Very interesting...

Roberto

They'll never sell it down here in Oz!!!!!!!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Trevor Hale

I would still think that they would require Glycol for Anti Ice, to prevent ice from forming after the de-ice process.

Any word on this Kest?

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I was thinking the same thing as I was reading the article. Does this process dry the aircraft as well?

Good question. I see two clues in the text that give a bit of an answer.

The first is: "immediate before take-off", now this is interesting...how immediate is that? Under some circumstances the hold-over time of a treatment is reduced immensely so that taxi/hold time to the runway is longer and the a/c has to return.

The second is: "in most cases" which means that in some cases Glycol is still required.

Both depend upon OAT and type of weather precipitation (a deposit on the earth of hail, mist, rain, sleet, or snow). If there is a freezing rain, or lots of snow falling, an anti-ice glycol layer would be necessary. And if the temp is very low and there is precipitation the hold-over time of the anti-ice treatment is short, and a "de-ice only" seems to fall short of any safety guidelines.

I wonder if this thing is FAA approved and what additional procedures are in place.

In clear weather conditions, this is a nice solution, and if you can dispense anti-ice immediately after the first step (de-ice), great!

Gotta Love Type-4 :)