ULTIMATELY -- IT’S CREW
RESPONSIBILITY
Whether we talk about Washington DC's Air Florida crash in the 80’s or the more recent Montrose, CO crash, there is no doubt that accumulation of any contaminants on a aircraft surface is a potential danger to the safety of the passengers and crew.
As a crewmember, it is your duty to ensure the safety of your flight by recognizing factors that lead to surface contamination and knowing the adverse effects of that contamination on the dynamics of flight.
The hazard of flying with surface contamination is so real that most of all the other transport agencies in the world make it illegal to take-off with critical surfaces contaminated.
The reasons for the regulations are straightforward. The degradation in aircraft performance and changes in flight characteristics when frozen contaminants are present are wide ranging and unpredictable. Contamination makes no distinction between large aircraft, small aircraft or helicopters, the performance penalties and dangers are just as real.
The aircraft surface contamination process should be your ultimate Crew Resource Management (CRM) process utilization. It should start with this training, carry into each daily crew briefing and allow each crewmember (cockpit and cabin) and passenger to feel empowered to report any observations to any crewmember in a timely manner. A well trained cabin crewmember or passenger may be able to detect and report the failure of the aircraft surface contamination removal process before either cockpit crewmember may suspect or observe this hazard.
Use ALL of your resources! Cocktail Resource Management? The ASRS receives more than a few reports detailing unusual and interesting events. In the following report, the flight crew of a U.S. air carrier landed at a Russian airport on a scheduled flight only to find that ice had formed on the upper surfaces of the wings due to fuel cold-soak. Perhaps because it was June, the Russian ground crew didn't have deicing fluids available -- but they did have another kind of solution -- and it worked to Absolut Perfection. The Captain's story:
"...upper wing ice formed due to fuel cold-soak.
No glycol at airport...[Airport] possessed no fluid as
well...So, had Russian ground crew spray wings with hot water, then immediately sprayed 25 bottles of Russian vodka on top of wings...[with] garden sprayer. Wings were subsequently checked, they were clear of ice. Normal takeoff." (ACN 244197)
Is this Crew Resource Management (CRM), or what?
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/ Notice/N_8900.636.pdf
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