-
Check out this this free event.
Airplanes
- Thread starter dannyh
- Start date
My father has an airstrip on his hobby farm and we used to clean his airplanes frequently. We NEVER used a power washer (especially on fabric covered airframes) and used chemicals specifically designed for use on aircraft. His grass airfield had a swamp on one end so during the summer, one takeoff or landing would call for a gallon of bug remover!
Navigator7
New Member
dannyh said:
I used to work a very busy airport line service in my teens perhaps before pressure washers came out.
Lemme tell ya, a teenager can inflict a lot of damage on a plane if careless.
I washed and waxed close to 500 planes in my 3 year career.
We used a soap with a brand name called Brulen or Brulin. Blue and yellow can....and boy did it cut grease particularly on the underbelly and the landing gear.
I don't know about it's enviro quality...but it would melt the skin if you didn't wear gloves and glasses.
I think a responsible PW owner/operator would do quite well at plane washing and....my life experience suggests the risk of damage to the plane is much less than hand washing......and cut the time to perhaps an 1/8 of a brush washed plane.
I once washed a WW2, C-117 flying box car modified for fighting forest fires. It was covered with dirt, dust, oil and fire retardant slurry....called borate at the time.
At 17 yo, I negotiated my price....a ride on a fire mission.
I did....took me three days...a Friday Saturday and Sunday.
Tuesday we took off to Montana and dropped one load in a box canyon.
It scared the sh1t outta me and would never do it again.
I'd rather was the plane and get paid cash! Even today.
Last edited: