On Sunday morning the job was easily done through turning the aircraft to face into the sun then setting about it with 1 litre of de-icing fluid in a garden-type spray device and a rubber brush.
It might be a hassle if you were in a rush, but remove the cover, turn it into the sun, spray the stuff on the prop, wings and tailplane, pop indoors for weather, notams, cup of tea etc., come back out and have a little go with the brush = job done.
Thanks dublinpilot, I saw that today while having a poke around Trainsair. It says its suitable for a back pack type spray device but I am hoping for a PA28, one could get away with a mini garden spray type container for de-icing.
Talking to an experienced DA42 guy yesterday, he mentioned that ice-accretion could be exceptionally serious, due to the composite wing. Taxying in at +3degC OAT, after a long(ish) flight, the build-up. after 5 mins or so, on the ground was impressive (frost, I assume).
I have no experience on a DA42 - does that sound reasonable?
After long flight at -35/-40 in the PA-46 when we landed there is some frost on the wing from the cold fuel. Not sure it is a composite thing, surely just related to the fuel tanks.
I understood the composite wing was subject to heavy icing when airborne, not on the ground - you're right.
I guess if the fuel was really cold we could get some icing in flight if we descended rapidly into warm moist air but I would think the warm airflow would get rid of it quite quickly. No idea if a composite is different.
I recall descending rapidly into Trieste, +20C, from a flight over the Alps at about -25C, to see ice (frost) building up to quite a thickness on the wings which still contained quite a lot of very cold fuel.
After a few minutes it fell off 
There are lots of stories about the "modern" wings (SR22, DA42, etc) being very sensitive to ice, but I have no experience of these.
Id been wondering about the practicalities of removing ice from the unhangared aircraft before VFR flying on an icy winter day when away from base. Various bits of advice have gone before, with some important warnings (some of which are obvious) – like not using warm water as it will re-freeze. Jason had suggested warm water in a bag. Obviously the proper job is to use the right fluid applied in the right way at the right temp etc. I wasn’t certain whether the stuff you might defrost the car with might dissolve the aircraft, or melt ice on the ground only to blow back and re-freeze in some critical spot like the aileron hinges or some other unforeseen tragedy. Pitching up at the GA apron with a few tins of spray from the garage when away from base would prob be the easiest thing to do but might there be any unforeseen issues like those above.
After a little googling I found this little article from AOPA,
Ive no real experience of having to remove ice before flight (luxury of hangarage) but has the collected wisdom here any thoughts/ comments/ cautions
merry christmas to all :)
Hello Justin,
the fluid used to deice cars in those 500ml spray bottles works quite well. You will need about 10 of those to deice a SEP plane or less in light cases. In addition bring a soft broom, gloves, warm clothes and some time. This in enough to get you going and I usually need the equipment only once a year. At home we have a hangar and most of the time the weather is not that bad. If you need deicing on a more regular basis others have suggested getting a 5l garden sprayer and buying TKS fluid. So far I did not see any corrosion or other bad effects with the car spray bottles.
In the PA46 forum some Americans seem to fly in the Rockies having all kind of more sophisticated techniques like applying anti icing after landing and using commercial deicing (expensive can be several 100 Euro) but I think in Central Europe for a light GA plane that is too much.
So bottom line buy a supply of those car deicers to sleep well when away from home and most of the time you will not need them. Get the cheaper no name stuff at about 2-3 Euro each instead of the expensive ones which do not seem to work any better.
It depends a lot on the temperatures and hence on the type of ice the plane gets. If the temperatures are reasonably low you get rime ice or frost which can easily be removed with a broom/brush and a cloth. If the temperatures are around 0 you may get clear ice (freezing rain, snow melting and turning to ice when temperatures drop) which is a lot harder to remove. In that case ice removal sprays are certainly required.
Snow should be removed as soon as possible after it has fallen.
Keep the a/c as clean (free from water and other contamination) as you can at all times and it will make your job easier.
