HAZARDS DURING WINTER OPERATIONS

PASSENGER STAIR CONTAMINATION

• During the winter months of 2023, multiple safety events concerning presence of contamination on
walking surfaces of passenger stairs were recorded across Wizz Air network. Passenger stairs which
are not adequately cleaned from ice and snow before embarkation / disembarkation lead to increased
slipping chance of an individual – potentially resulting in injuries of passengers / operational
personnel.

BEFORE PASSENGER STAIRS ARE BROUGHT TO THE AIRCRAFT, MAKE SURE THAT THE WALKING SURFACES ARE FREE OF
CONTAMINATION AND SAFE FOR USE.

COPING WITH THE ISSUE

• Don’t let the cold weather surprise you! Multiple events happened during the sudden change of
weather conditions – with ground handling rosters being improperly adjusted and inadequate
resources assigned to the activities regarding boarding equipment cleaning.

• Ice build-up on walking surfaces. In many cases, boarding equipment was exposed to unfavorable
winter conditions for extended period, which led to ice build up on the surfaces with snow layer on PASSENGER STAIR CONTAMINATION – SNOW & ICE
top. Make sure that, apart from brushing equipment, proper ice removal process is in place.

• Brief your team, raise the awareness! Positioning of contaminated passenger stairs indicates that
there is lack of safety awareness among frontline staff. Ensure that this topic is included in regular
meetings and communicated properly.

• Clean the stairs, save on-time performance. Wizz Air crew will not allow boarding / disembarkation if
the passenger stairs are not cleaned properly and present potential slipping hazard – which will have
negative impact on the delays during ground handling activities.

WIZZ AIR | GROUND OPERATIONS | SAFETY BULLETIN | ISSUE # 54 | DEC 2023 | WINTER OPERATIONS
HAZARDS DURING WINTER OPERATIONS
FORWARD FUSELAGE ICE RIDGES DE-ICING

• On the ground, in specified meteorological conditions, melted snow from the windshield can freeze
again on the sides and lower part of the forward fuselage creating ice ridges. Ice ridges on radome and
forward fuselage area in front of the pitot probes, static probes and the angle-of-attack (AOA) sensors
can cause incorrect indications on the flight deck instruments and shall be removed.

FLIGHT DECK WINDOWS, RADOME AREA AND ALL AIR DATA SENSING DEVICES ARE A MANDATORY PART OF A
CONTAMINATION CHECK TO ESTABLISH THE NEED FOR DE-ICING.

• Based on the reports, an increasing trend of improper forward fuselage ice ridges treatment was
ICE CONTAMINATION ON FORWARD FUSELAGE
observed*. Most of the events refer to the following issues:

‒ Improper fluid application. In many cases, the fluid was sprayed from the front (nose) of the
aircraft towards the rear, creating hazard that the fluid will enter pitot probes.

‒ On multiple occasions, the minimum fluid / water dilution requirement for radome treatment was
not respected, spraying the front of the aircraft with mixture with less than 50% fluid share.

RADOME AND FORWARD FUSELAGE DE-ICING CAN BE PERFORMED WITH TYPE I FLUID EXCLUSIVELY, USING THE MINIMUM
DILLUTION OF 50% AT MAXIMUM MIXTURE TEMPERATURE OF 90°C. THE TREATMENT SHALL BE PERFORMED AT LOW
PRESSURE AT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN 0.5m AND 3m WITH SPRAYING DIRECTION FROM REAR TOWARDS THE FRONT OF THE
AIRCRAFT.

* For full process description, please refer to Wizz Air GHM Chapter 13.3.20 “Forward fuselage ice ridges de-icing”

WIZZ AIR | GROUND OPERATIONS | SAFETY BULLETIN | ISSUE # 54 | DEC 2023 | WINTER OPERATIONS