Manchester Airport has taken delivery of two new specialist Mercedes-Benz Arocs de-icer vehicles.
The Arocs are both 6×4 2632 models with 7.7-litre straight-six engines providing 320hp via Mercedes PowerShift 3 automatic gearboxes. Supplied by Dealer Rygor Commercials to specialist bodybuilder Aebi Schmidt UK, the vehicles were fitted out with Airport Sprayer 30m extendable side and rear spray booms, pumping equipment and modular polyethylene fluid tanks before being delivered to the airport. The specialist equipment allows the de-icers to spray solution over a distance of 30m while travelling at up to 28mph, and the 12,500 litres of de-icer can be precisely controlled by the cab operative.
Senior Airport Engineer Jay Harding said, “These new trucks have already played a vital part in keeping our runways open through some challenging conditions, and have greatly impressed the teams who work with them.”
The Manchester Airport engineering team have named the vehicles ‘Sir Bruce Thaws Ice’ in honour of the late Sir Bruce Forsyth, and ‘Clouey’ in memory of long-standing airport worker Steve Clousen.
