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April 2016 airportbusiness 21 COVER STORY A p r i l The storm was expected to drop about 30 inches of snow across the Mid-Atlantic and up into New England for up to two days, which meant hundreds of flight cancellations and stranded passengers across the region. However, at B a lt i more/ Wa sh i ng t on International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), leaders were ready for the storm even before it ticked into weather models. "Well, we begin our preparations for the snow season in general early in the year," said Ricky Smith, chief executive officer of BWI. "We want our employees trained; our strategy on handling different types of snow has been determined; coordination with our airlines has already been discussed and established, including with the tower. "Most of the work we had to do to prepare for this storm — for Jonas — or any other storm has happened months before." BWI implemented a strategy of keeping on top of snowfall and clearing the airfield in such a manner it reopened for service before others in the region, allowing time-sensitive flights to land in the region and get planes back in the air. Using communications and planning, airports can keep on top of snow removal no matter how big the storm gets. PLANS IN PLACE Carlton Braley, CM, assistant airport direc- tor, operations and facilities for Manchester- Boston Regional Airport said when preparing for a snowfall, airport officials hold conference calls with fleet and operations departments along with all the stakeholders in the facility, including the air traffic control tower, cargo shipping, FBOs, parking lot management and marketing department. Braley said they start with the airlines to see what their plans are in terms of equipment needs, schedule changes and diversions, then get the same information from the FBOs and cargo facilities. Once the information is gath- ered it's shared and coordinated with landside operations to make sure the plans conform. Equipment and staff are prepared accord- ingly and he said the airport orders a season's worth of sand and chemical to make sure it's not hit by shortages. "Now everyone, even the air traffic control tower knows what to expect and staffing can be adjusted and extra equipment can be put on different ramps," he said. Braley said Manchester-Boston looks to the forecast trend when preparing for storms as well. If a forecast goes from 3 inches to 6 inches of snow, then prepare for 8. BWI had a plan in place, but all snow- storms are different, so Smith said airport leaders monitored forecasts from the National Weather Service (NWS) and local agencies so they would have the best information possible to handle the snow dump coming from Jonas. Once they knew it wasn't going to be an ice storm and that it would consist of a prolonged heavy snowfall, Smith said BWI staff was pre- pared accordingly. "We anticipated over 30 inches of snow and we got about 29 inches," he said. "We knew we had to deploy the snow melters so we thought about deploying the right amount of snow melt- ers. That was important because they had to be strategically located." Smith said BWI was fortunate to have all its airlines cancel all flights in anticipation of Jonas and remove their aircraft from the airfield because it allowed staff of 400 — 130 of which were airport employees — to move and mound snow tactfully. "Knowing it was going to be a heavy dump, we had to try and not allow the snow to accu- mulate so high that we lost control of the abil- ity to maintain snow removal elements on the airfield," he said. KEEPING THE PLANES CLEARED Besides runway issues, airlines and FBOs need to clear their own equipment as snow falls onto the airport. Tristan Smith, aviation vertical market manager for Big Ass Solutions, said fan sys- tems can effectively defrost planes inside the hangar by bringing hot air from the top of the building and pulling it down to ground level. "Hangars are some big open spaces and heat rises," he said. "Fans can effectively, effi- ciently and cheaply get it down, even more so than the big blowers that might get it halfway to the floor then the air dissipates. "Really, it's almost impossible to heat a han- gar. That's a fact. To make matters worse, more hangars have high pressure sodium lights that's heating the air and wasting all that energy." Smith said using fans to defrost the plane can be done efficiently by circulating air across the entire unit. It also dries the plane after defrosting and before maintenance, which in turn improves safety. When using a fan for defrosting the plane, Smith said it's important to make sure it's on at all times in the winter, not just during working hours. Make sure the fan is on the lowest speed possible as well, Smith said, to make sure it works the best. Some using fans will reverse the motors to heat the hangar, but Smith advised against that. "Just put it on the lowest speed possible," he said. "Some put it on reverse, but it's a miscon- ception that's not necessary and it just messes up the motors." KEEPING UP WITH THE STORM Snow at BWI needed to be located near drain- age systems set to capture contaminated melt so it can be recycled. Smith said they also knew the airfield would eventually reopen, there needed to be room to allow aircraft to access gates and the runway in an efficient manner. Smith said employees worked on two 12-hour shifts for more than 24 hours, while making sure they were getting rest. They kept on top of the storm, but they met a challenge in the prolonged storm as fuel levels started to drop. "Clearing snow to the fuel farm wasn't a priority in the beginning, but it did become one when fuel levels became low," Smith said. W hen Winter Storm Jonas formed and took aim at the east coast of the U.S. in January, airport leaders across the region braced for the worst.