Exterior Dry Wash at Bologna Guglielmo Marconi (LIPE)

What changes at Bologna Guglielmo Marconi for an exterior dry wash?

LIPE sits at 123 feet elevation with a single 2,803-metre runway, 12/30. The airport operates H24, and TAG Bologna—the operator's own GA subsidiary—provides around-the-clock handling, refuelling and parking clearance after PPR. AviaVIP also handles business aviation. Bologna moved from schedule-facilitated to fully coordinated status, so every arrival and departure now requires an Assoclearance slot.

For your crew, that means we schedule the dry wash inside the slot window or immediately after block-in if you have a longer stand time. The Terminal Aviazione Generale offers a dedicated 22,000 m² apron and a 2,000 m² hangar; if weather turns or if you prefer enclosed work, we move the aircraft inside. The handler expects our airside pass and escort confirmation before we cross, and we coordinate GPU availability if you want avionics cold during the wash.

Runway length and elevation rarely constrain MTOW for the category of aircraft we serve here, but the slot discipline does: a four-hour dry wash on a super-midsize fits neatly between morning arrival and evening departure, provided the clearance holds. If your slot moves, we adjust start time on the same day whenever the handler confirms stand access.

How does airside access work at LIPE for a third-party detailing crew?

Bologna requires a valid Italian airside pass and handler escort for any third party working on the apron. We hold permanent LIPE credentials and notify the handling agent—TAG or AviaVIP—at least two hours before the scheduled aircraft arrival. The handler logs our details, confirms the stand assignment and arranges escort from the landside security checkpoint to the aircraft.

If you are parked on the dedicated GA apron, the distance from the terminal to stand is short and the escort is straightforward. If the aircraft is positioned elsewhere on the field, the handler provides a vehicle escort. Once on stand, we work under the handler's supervision: they expect a pre-work briefing covering product type, no-touch avionics areas, static port protection and timing. We carry our own pitot covers, inlet blanks and wheel chocks; the handler supplies GPU if requested in the PPR.

After the wash, we walk the aircraft with the handler, sign off in the tech log if the operator requires it, then escort back landside. The entire airside process—from security to wheels-up—adds roughly thirty minutes to the quoted dry-wash duration, so a six-hour job becomes six and a half gate-to-gate.

Recurring dry wash versus one-off work at Bologna: what suits a based aircraft?

If your aircraft operates a regular schedule through LIPE—twice a week or more—we recommend a standing dry-wash slot every two to four weeks, coordinated with your longest turnaround day. The handler keeps our airside details on file, the escort becomes routine, and we can pre-position materials in the TAG hangar. Recurring work means we track the same airframe: leading-edge condition, belly soil patterns, nacelle exhaust staining. That history lets us adjust dwell time and product choice without a lengthy pre-work inspection each visit.

One-off requests—ferry positioning, charter leg, AOG recovery—work equally well but require a fresh PPR each time and a full pre-work briefing with the handler. If you arrive outside our usual Bologna days, we travel from another Italian base or from our main facility, adding a mobilisation notice of forty-eight hours. Slot coordination tightens the window: a same-day call is possible only if the handler confirms stand availability and we already hold current LIPE credentials.

For fleets mixing both patterns—a based aircraft and occasional visitors—we propose a hybrid: monthly recurring dry wash on the home machine, ad-hoc service on the others. The handler appreciates predictable scheduling, and you avoid the premium mobilisation cost on every job.

What does the handler expect when Terso brings a dry-wash crew to the ramp?

Handling agents at Bologna want clear communication, safety compliance and no surprises. Before we cross airside, they expect written confirmation of insurance, a list of crew names and pass numbers, a description of the work and an estimated duration. We send that package when you confirm the booking, and the handler appends it to the PPR file.

On the apron, the handler's ground crew will ask three things: where we intend to position our equipment trolley, whether we need external power to keep cabin climate running, and which panels or ports must remain untouched. We brief them on waterless product chemistry—no runoff, no environmental concern—and show the material safety data sheet if requested. They also want to know if we will open any access panels; we do not, so belly degreasing stays external only.

Timing discipline matters most. If the dry wash overruns the slot departure by even fifteen minutes, the handler faces coordination penalties and you risk a delayed clearance. We build contingency into the schedule: a seven-hour wash is quoted as eight hours stand time. If we finish early, the handler appreciates the buffer; if weather or an unexpected stain adds time, we still close inside the window. At the end, the handler walks the aircraft with us, checks that all covers are removed, static ports are clear and the stand is clean, then signs our departure log.

How do you fit a dry wash between legs at a coordinated airport like Bologna?

Slot coordination compresses the available window, so we plan backwards from your departure clearance. A super-midsize dry wash takes four to five hours; an ultra-long-range airframe runs six to eight. Add thirty minutes for airside escort and post-work inspection, and you need a minimum seven-hour turnaround for a large aircraft. If your inbound slot is 08:00 and your outbound is 16:00, we start at 08:30 and finish by 15:30, leaving margin for the handler's final checks and any last-minute slot adjustment.

When the turnaround is shorter—say, four hours—we propose a partial dry wash: fuselage, wings and nacelles only, skipping the belly and gear bays. That cuts the job to three hours and still delivers a visibly clean aircraft for the next leg. Alternatively, if you have back-to-back days at LIPE, we split the work: upper surfaces on day one, belly and gear on day two, each inside a short slot window.

If your departure slot moves forward, the handler notifies us immediately and we either accelerate—adding a second technician if the aircraft is already on stand—or abort and reschedule. Dry wash chemistry is forgiving: we can stop mid-fuselage, cover the aircraft and resume the next day without streaking or residue. The handler logs the incomplete work in the stand report, and we return when the next clearance is confirmed.

What does a typical exterior dry wash include at Bologna, and what does it leave out?

The service covers the entire external envelope: fuselage from nose to tail, both wings upper and lower, empennage, nacelles and pylons. We remove bug strikes on the leading edges, exhaust soot around the APU and engine outlets, hydraulic mist on the belly and general road film from taxiway and apron dust. Exterior windows—cockpit and cabin—are cleaned inside and out if you unlock the doors; if not, we do external only. Position lights, landing lights and recognition beacons are wiped down. Brightwork on leading edges and around the windscreen receives a light touch-up to restore gloss, though this is not a dedicated polish.

The dry wash does not include paint correction, oxidation removal or deep compound polishing—those belong to a separate single-stage or multi-stage polish service. We do not open panels, so we cannot clean inside gear bays beyond what is visible with the doors closed. We do not treat the flight deck with protectant or apply a hydrophobic coating; those are add-ons quoted separately. We do not wash the interior or clean the cabin.

Belly degreasing is external only: we spray biodegradable degreaser, agitate with a brush and wipe down, but we do not steam-clean or pressure-wash. If the belly is heavily soiled—oil weeps, de-ice fluid residue, carbon build-up—we note it in the post-work report and recommend a full decon wash at a facility with containment, which Bologna's GA apron does not require but which some operators prefer for environmental assurance.