Mountain Airports - Serious About Snow Removal
A cool photo taken a couple days ago here at Eagle County Airport - shows all the snow removal and emergency equipment at Eagle Airport. I suppose quite a feat to get it all running at the same time, I imagine with this many trucks and tractors something would always be broke. In any case, the airport is ready for winter, when those rouge Colorado Mountain Storms come through then team at Eagle County Regional Airport is prepared to clear the runway and taxiways in minutes.
A clean runway is ideal, however there are some strategies we teach pilots to use when landing at airports where the snow clearing may not be as swift and thorough as it is here at Eagle Airport - minimal use of brakes, maximum aerodynamic braking, steering primarily using airfoils and not wheels, maximize your available runway distance and utilize the slope of the runway and wind will help you make a safe landing if the conditions are ice and snow covered runway braking action nil.
