One of the most critical requirements of aerodynamic lift in aircraft flight is a smooth wing surface, and one of the easiest ways to make a wing surface irregular is to add ice to it - a layer of ice even l-mm/0.04-inch thick can be enough to destabilize an in-flight airplane. For large commercial aircraft that fly at high altitudes in subzero temperatures, keeping ice in check is a fundamental wing leading edge function. Wing ice management falls into two broad categories: anti-icing (ice prevention) and deicing (ice elimination or mitigation). Most technology focuses on deicing, operating on the assumption that some ice is going to form on a wing, and works to get it off before it becomes problematic. Almost all deicing technologies rely on a substance (usually a sprayable chemical applied prior to takeoff) or an onboard mechanism that destabilizes the ice, thus allowing the slipstream to dislodge it and remove it from the wing.
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