Ice, snow, and it's impact on airports

    Ice and snow are one of the few events that can quickly and totally shut down an airport. We have already explored the dangers that ice can impose on aircraft, how it increases aircraft weight, decreases the lift generated, and how it interferes with pitot-static instruments. Those alone make ice a massive safety issue and would put it on any airport manager's radar instantly. I will explore the impact on airport infrastructure and their managers.

    As anyone that has lived in a cold place, ice and snow can make things quite... slippy, to say the least. While an obvious effect to that issue lies on the runway, where aircraft cannot get enough traction to slow themselves down, it is also an issue for all other ground crew as well. For ice, it can make any operation dangerous, where personnel and equipment can slip. For snow, it creates a barrier to for everyone to get through and can even block aircraft and equipment from moving (Government of Canada, 2021).

    Of course, managing an airport in these environments means that you will need lots of extra infrastructure in place for these times. You will need the snow plows and trucks to remove the snow off of the ground before it freezes, you will need deicing infrastructure for planes, and you'll trained team members to handle these tasks. All of that just isn't needed in places where it doesn't freeze over, so you'll need to come up with some of it. You'll need to make sure that your buildings are built so that they can withstand the elements, so that are well insulated, and safe to work around. Lastly, if you're in a lovely place that gets freezing cold and snows in the winter and can blazingly hot in the summer, you'll have to deal with the thermal expansion that that will occur on the ramps, taxiways, and runways destroying the tarmac or concrete. Lastly, you'll need to be careful to make sure that your workers stay safe from the cold and ensure their wellness, too (Government of Canada, 2021). 

Government of Canada, C. C. for O. H. nd S. (2021, October 23). Cold environments - working in the cold : Osh answers. Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. Retrieved October 23, 2021, from https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/phys_agents/cold_working.html.