Do carriers wash aircraft?
 

Something I have ALWAYS wondered about...... Do carriers run their aircraft through the ol' drive-thru every now and again? Or do they rely on the "natural elements" to keep the aircraft exterior clean?

At altitude one would assume grit and dirt would become frozen and in conjunction with the high velocity airstream passing over the aircraft body would be "blown" off. But I wonder if that means an entire clean or do the aircraft still need a Wash'n'Wax every now and again.

Yes They Do.
 

Some years ago when I did the Airside Tarmac Tour Qantas were washing a 747 with booms and gantreys and quite a few manual laborours.

barry robson (alias Gerald Hatrick)

If you do the fantastic Airside tarmac Tour at Sydney, they do take you for a spin arount to the biggest Carlovers you will ever see.

I know with the hecrs, they do a drive through aircraft wash following a few dirt strip landings. They also do a scheduled servicing every so many hours which requires hoses, detergent, sponges and a dozen or so airmen to get scrubbing.

There was an episode of the Amazing Race where the teams had to wash an a/c at Guam

Yeah but they woosed out...they only had to wash one engine pod on a B52:rolleyes:

Shameless plug.

http://cdn-www.airliners.net/aviatio.../2/0651262.jpg

Seen on the very same Tarmac Tour Barry mentioned above. Although this is BA here.

Iberia and Air France? No. :)

Awesome stuff,

Thanks for all the responses!

I'd hate to be the guy who has to wax a 747 by hand.....

You mean this guy?

http://www.worth1000.com/entries/123...3386ejMI_w.jpg