In winter, passengers often experience that the aircraft is driven onto a platform before take-off and is then sprayed. This process, known as “de-icing”, is used for safety, because ice formation on the wings is not only dangerous, but was also the cause of fatal crashes in the past.

So that flying in winter is a safe thing, you take particular care when it comes to de-icing. Rather unlikely in the current Corona situation, but quite possible: If a machine has to wait too long in a waiting position for take-off, the pilots have to go to the platform again to "deicing" if the maximum effective time is exceeded. Better safe than sorry.

Stuttgart Airport explains the process using a Boeing 787 “Preighters” as follows: “A biodegradable hot water-glycol mixture is used to spray wings and other important aircraft parts. Anything that drips off after the hot shower is stored in the airport's retention basin and pretreated before it goes to the sewage treatment plants in the neighboring towns. There, the remains of the de-icing agent are used as an external carbon source to optimize biological processes. "