Posted by Traffic Reporter on February 11th, 2010 in Dallas

This snow brings with it the need to deice the planes before they take off.  This means a 20-30 minute delay.  Most airports in cold climes are equipped with deicing equipment at the gates, so that the service is performed during the normal maintenance and loading and unloading of the planes.  However, airports in warmer areas, like DFW, often have less equipment and perform their deicing on the tarmac; this takes more time.

This writer once sat on the tarmac at DFW during an ice storm (circa Feb 27, 2003) for 3 hours while several deicings were conducted until the pilots were satisfied.  Bring a book or movie to enjoy.

Happy Winter in North Texas!

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