Plant Power

How did airlines de-ice airplanes before the technology used today was available? De-icing has been around since the 1920s. The first process of de-icing was when an airplane service worker tied knots in a rope, dragged it over a planes wings and cracking off the ice and snow. At that time this practice was considered acceptable to make an airplane flight worthy. Dr. William Geer invented the next process of airplane de-icing in 1930. Dr. Geer’s invention was called a pneumatic de-icing boot. It cracked ice off the wing of a plane by inflating what is called a ‘boot’ with air. The ‘boot’ is an inflatable tube. When commercial flight became popular in the 1950s an anti-freeze spray was introduced. Propylene glycol is a common anti-freeze used by the airline industry.