The Only Way to Fly : Stick to the reform flight plan: De-ice or deplane

After 10 years of questions about the dangers of ice accumulating on an aircraft’s wings before takeoff, the Federal Aviation Administration has finally announced an overhaul of its winter safety procedures for commercial airliners. Now the question is: After this decade of inaction, will the agency stick to its flight plan, as it were, and follow through to make sure that airline passengers are protected?

Since 1982 there have been more than 100 deaths in 24 ice-related airliner accidents. Twenty-seven were killed in last month’s crash of USAir Flight 405 at New York’s La Guardia Airport. Though the investigation into that accident is not complete, wing icing is being pinpointed as the probable cause.

Ice the thickness of a dime can imperil takeoff by distorting wing shape, significantly reducing lift.

The new rules, to take effect in October, will establish strict guidelines for takeoffs in severe winter weather. The FAA will prohibit planes from sitting for long periods on runways in below-freezing temperatures without undergoing thorough de-icing--even if it means repeated treatments and prolonged delays. The agency will also set up a system to help a pilot--who is the person who determines whether a craft needs de-icing--in deciding when it is necessary to treat an airliner.

Airports may have to spend more on de-icing equipment, and passengers may have to pay more through increased fares, in addition to facing longer delays. But the cost of plane crashes is much greater--in money and in lives. It’s good that the FAA has finally acknowledged what is most important.