VIDEO: Airport Gears Up for Winter With Annual Drill

On a 60-degree day in November in Western Pennsylvania, with lots of sunshine, the last thing most people were thinking about was snow.

But for the Field Maintenance and Airport Operations teams at Pittsburgh International Airport, frigid temperatures and icy conditions were the focus on Nov. 3 as they staged their annual Winter Operations Drill.

Team members attend a meeting with a National Weather Service meteorologist and an expert in snow removal and deicing chemicals used by the airport. Then heavy equipment operators took plows, snow blowers, deicers and other snow removal equipment on the runway for a staged drill to prepare for winter weather.

“With fighting snowstorms, you need the entire team,” said Jim Moorhead, Director of Airport Operations. “From the operators and drivers to the airport Operations team, checking for safety, sending out field conditions, keeping our stakeholders and tenants advised to what’s going on. The mechanics work hard. In the wintertime, they put a lot of hours in.”