How to Clean an Airplane

Mix a commercial aviation cleaning product into the pressure washer according to the instructions supplied with the washer and the cleaning product. Do not use heavily alkaline cleaners. They can seep into the seams and cause corrosion.

Hold the pressure washer nozzle 3 to 4 feet from the plane, and clean the plane small sections at a time. Use the ladder to reach high places. Whenever possible, spray in the direction air would flow. This means angling the spray toward the rear of the plane. This helps prevent water from getting into and building up in the seams.

Clean the tail. Start at the top of the tail and work down. Turn the rudder both left and right to clean between the rudder and the tail. Clean both sides of the tail before moving to the fuselage.

Clean the fuselage. Start at the bottom and go up. Clean from back to front. First do one side, then the other.

Let the pilot debug her own windshield (as many prefer) or use a soft cloth with an aviation cleaning product mixed with water in a bucket. (Mix the product according to its instructions.) Use gloves if necessary. For the best windshield cleaning job, use your bare hands and lots of fresh water.

Use detergent heavily around the engines. Exhaust leaves a lot of grime here. Use rotating brushes here if necessary.

Wash the area between the engines and the fuselage with a pressure washer if you are cleaning a jet aircraft. You may find the physical remains of dead birds there.

Wash the wings with the pressure washer. Wash the tops first, then the bottoms. Move the flaps both all the way up and all the way down by hand to reach the areas between the flaps and the wings with the pressure wash spray. Use extensions if you can't reach.

Wash the wheels with the pressure washer with heavy detergent, using the brush when necessary. Let the detergent soak in for no more than 10 minutes to soften the dirt.

Rinse the detergent completely off the whole plane with clean water.