b'WINTER OPERATIONSUES21experience. New hires receive movement area and airfield safetymaintained, but individual tenants are responsible for clearing the training, including information about signage, markings and safeaprons of their respective hangars.operations. This is followed by training about specific equipment,In addition to key airfield surfaces, the airport maintains parking snow placement priorities and radio communication with thelots, hangar roads and internal roads. The county highway control tower.department provides support for Aviation Drive, which leads into Training typically totals about 20 hours spread across severalthe airport from the county highway. days in the fall. Light snowfalls early in the season are often usedAccording to Holcomb, a light dusting of snow takes two to as real-time training opportunities. three hours of machine time to remove. This means daytime New hires often find operating equipment at night and learningremoval efforts may take up to 10 hours due to airfield traffic. proper radio communication to be the most challenging aspects ofNight-time efforts are typically much faster because equipment the hands-on training. When teaching trainees how to communicateoperators dont need to yield to nearly as many aircraft. If with the control tower, Holcomb emphasizes the importance of usingneeded, UES can deploy 12 crew members and seven pieces of the correct jargon and conveying information in the proper order.equipment at one time throughout the airport. After a few classroom run-throughs, supervisors HolcombBecause weather dictates the schedule, crews are often on and Nick Marszalkowski train new hires on the airfieldsessionsstandby, sometimes waiting overnight for storms that never that require patience from controllers in the tower. Once traineesmaterialize. We have to be here just in case, says Holcomb. are competent with radio communication and movement areaStanich notes that protecting staff downtime can be difficult, as procedures, the next step is learning where to put the clearedsomeone must always be monitoring the weather.snow. And then, Marszalkowski says, Its, Welcome to the jump seat. Welcome to the show. Theres an App for ThatDuring actual snow events, runways, connecting taxiways andThe team uses a variety of resources to help with forecasting, terminal ramps are Priority 1 areas. Taxi lanes to hangars are alsoincluding the government website Aviation Weather. Among the www.aeropless.com1 866 362-1688Eco-Friendly JOSH MATEKOVIC Airport SnowplowsAsk us about our seasonal rental or leasing options!AirportImprovement.comMarch | April 2026'