It was really coming down again last night. I spent several hours in the bucket, on a few different planes. Being a diligent blogger, I also took my camera so that I could take you with me.

This is my view from the bucket, down to my driver. Our headsets aren’t working very well, so there’s a lot of shouting for now. Plus hand gestures. Most of them are rated PG. I keep the “Rated R for language” stuff up there in the bucket with me. No one can hear you yell over the wind and the engine anyway. Which is good, because some of it is most unladylike.

I liked this shot because you can sort of see the green Type IV fluid dripping down the fuselage. We spray a really hot Type I fluid to get the contamination (aka snow and ice) off of the aircraft first. Then we follow it up with the goopier (yes, that’s a technical term) Type IV anti-ice fluid to keep the build-up off for a while so the plane can get down the runway and take off safely. It’s tough when the precipitation continues as you’re spraying, because it reduces the time that the stuff is effective.

And that, boys and girls, is your de-icing lesson for the day.

Went out on the MV Kirkland the other night for New Years. It was a really breezy, gusty night, but still a great way to celebrate.

Did I mention rainy too? Yeah, we were drowned rats, but happy.

And Cheryl introduced me to Red Bull and vodka. I didn’t overindulge, but that’s good stuff!