LUFTHANSA ENGINEERING and Operational Services (LEOS), of Frankfurt-Main Airport, Germany, will put the first production Skywash automated aircraft washing system into operation before the end of September. Lufthansa Technik subsidiary LEOS claims that the Skywash will slash the time taken to wash a Boeing 747 from 10h to just 3h. The concept has been tested extensively using a prototype vehicle (above), and LEOS says that the Skywash will yield an 85% saving in the number of man hours and a 50% reduction in the amount of water required to clean a 747. Developed by LEOS at a cost of DM11 million ($7.5 million), the truck-based system uses a three-dimensional laser scanner to position the vehicle correctly and monitor the movement of the computer-controlled brush arm relative to the aircraft.
Source: Flight International
