How Aircraft Wings Prevent Ice Using Hot Engine Air

Even when blasting through snow clouds at minus 15 degrees Celsius, at 800 kilometers per hour, the wings don't freeze.

That's because hot air flows inside the cold metal.

If ice forms on the wings, lift drops, and the risk of a crash increases.

But you can't break the ice in flight, or keep spraying antifreeze.

So they use heat from the jet engine. A huge fan draws in air, which is squeezed tightly by the compressor deeper inside.

Why is it hot even before the fuel burns?

Compression alone can heat the air to nearly 400 degrees.

Some of this hot air is sent to the leading edge of the wing, then blown out through tiny holes in pipes inside, warming the metal from within.

Only when needed, the front of the wing becomes a giant heater.

But here's the problem. If you heat the wing more to evaporate the moisture, you can prevent ice, but the high temperatures damage parts.

So a heat exchanger cools the air, and valves regulate the flow.

The water droplets flow without freezing, and the strong wind blows them backward.

The air that carried the heat escapes through the outlets beneath the wings.

Next time you fly to snowy Hokkaido, please look out the window.

The reason you can pass safely through the cold clouds is thanks to the warm air flowing inside those thin wings.