That's Snowbusiness...: The Business of Getting Ready for Old Man Winter

In this article the author describes the preparedness of the St. Louis Airport Authority for snow removal at the Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. Crews respond to snow calls with wet snow causing being a higher priority than dry, as wet snow can stall aircraft engine compression. Snow calls are practiced for each winter as early as October in order to increase preparedness. Each snow call entails a 12 hour shift to be distributed between the 85 to 100 people on the snow removal team. The author also discusses the difficulties associated with the recent opening of that airport’s new parallel runway. The crew works with 300 or more vehicles in the winter, which includes 23 snowplows, dump trucks, six snow blowers, 14 runway sweepers, nine deicer trucks, and 15 pick-up trucks with smaller plows. Also discussed are the chemicals used to melt the ice.