23.11.2007
Ready for snow

To clear snow rapidly and efficiently at an airport, you need the right equipment and a well-trained crew. Copenhagen Airport recently held its annual snow preparedness exercise, when its snow-removal crew practice various snow-clearing techniques and reacquaint themselves with the machines. This year, the airport has invested in new equipment that will allow the crew to remove the snow from every nook and cranny, if they have to. 

The wind is bitingly cold. Night temperatures are around freezing now, and the Christmas lights have been turned on. There is nothing for it: winter is on its way, and Copenhagen Airport is warming up for another winter season of snow, ice, sleet and slush.

The huge yellow snowplows, snowblowers and sweepers roll out of the garage, engines roaring and lights blinking. After many months in summer hibernation, the machines are waking up. For the first time this winter, all the 14 snow-clearing machines are being taken out for a test run together. 

Quickly and efficiently

For the past two months, the members of the 200-man snow removal crew have been taking a brush-up course to refresh their skills in using the machines, practicing the techniques they need to clear the snow off the airport's runways quickly and efficiently.

"We hold this exercise to test whether the machines and the techniques we use work in practice, so we're ready when winter really sets in. The snow readiness exercise is part of the brush-up course the members of the snow removal crew take every year to practice the many different techniques they use. "We work under enormous time pressure, so it's essential for each member of the crew to know what they have to do and when and where they have to do it," says Henrik Haarsløv, the Field Service team leader in charge of training the crew.  

Even when the weather's frightful If weather conditions are severe, Copenhagen Airport can call in 40 members from other departments to help out. In the autumn, this diverse group of airport employees all attended a training course to

practice sitting behind the wheel of these 23-tonne machines.

 "The biggest challenge is clearing the area of snow while allowing air traffic to carry on in the meantime. It requires precision and coordination to allow the airport to remain open even on the days when the weather is really awful," says Field Service crew member Steen Flinta.

New machines

This year, Copenhagen Airport invested in two huge new snowblowers to clear runways and taxiways, but also in five smaller tractors to remove snow from the smaller areas that the big machines can't handle.

"In close consultation with our collaborative partners, we invested in five new tractors designed to clear snow in the smaller areas, e.g. along buildings and in between aircraft. We now have a complete range of machines that allow us to remove snow from both large and small areas without disrupting airport operations more than absolutely necessary," says Dan Meincke, Airside Support head of section.

First snow day of the season

Haarsløv and his crew have that butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling at the thought that they will soon be out there behind the wheel of these huge machines on the first real snow day of the season.

"We're like little boys when the first snow starts falling: it becomes almost a sport, trying to keep the airport area clear of snow. It's a matter of professional pride for the crew, and they do everything they can to keep traffic flowing as normally as possible, even under extreme weather conditions," he says.