Airline pilot de-ices wings with whisky

A quick thinking airline pilot used six bottles of whisky to de-ice the wings of his plane when he was grounded in Spain.

A photo of the captain taken by passenger, Linda Apeland

The captain of the Scandinavian Airline System (SAS) was grounded in Alicante thanks to ice on the wings of his plane which ground crew at the airport were unable to remove because no de-icing equipment was available.

Determined not to be delayed getting to his destination in Norway, the captain took six bottles of whisky from the drinks trolley and poured three over each wing solving the problem.

The scene was captured by passenger Linda Apeland, who told Norwegian newspaper Aftenbladet that afterwards they were told they would have to make do with gin if they wanted a drink as there was no whisky left. The plane eventually took off one hour and 20 minutes behind schedule.

Ice needs to be removed from a plane’s wings as it disrupts the air flow causing extra drag and preventing the wings from generating sufficient lift, which can cause crashes. Normally airports are understood to use a de-icing fluid based on propylene glycol, which is similar to antifreeze.