Preventing Vehicle-Aircraft Incidents During Winter Operations and Periods of Low Visibility (2008)

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The challenge of keeping the runway open during winter oper- ations is cited as one of the main factors of stress on equipment operators and management. Stress contributes to fatigue, which contributes to increased errors and the possibility of incur- sions. This synthesis study sought to identify some of the fac- tors that create pressure and a sense of urgency for equipment operators. One respondent summed up the pressures at his very busy general aviation airport in the following way: One of the main factors is the length of the storm. If staff has been plowing longer than 10–12 hours, there is a sense of urgency to finish snow removal because fatigue begins to set in. Other factors that can contribute are holidays and the staff’s resulting desire to get home. If plowing occurs overnight, there is often a desire to finish as much area as possible before traffic picks up the next morning. There can also be pressure from ten- ants to have runways, taxiways and ramp areas cleared before their scheduled departure. Even the Tower Controllers can pres- sure the staff to complete snow removal. Any time the main run- way is closed (which is the only runway with an ILS [instrument landing system]) for any reason (such as contaminant, a dis- abled aircraft, etc.), there is tremendous internal and external pressure to do whatever necessary to get the runway open quickly and safely. TIME PRESSURES A review of other survey responses highlight common themes behind the sense of urgency: Customer Service Pressures • “Pressure by airline and tenants to remove snow from their operations.” • “Aircraft taking delays or canceling flights. Demands by air carriers for better airfield conditions when you are doing the best for the situation that is present.” • “Corporate pilot expectations.” • “While airline schedules are reduced in a snowstorm, there is more pressure to run more flights. The faster that runways can be cleared, the more traffic can be accom- modated. With aircraft at 85% load factors, we try very hard to keep our runways open so more of our customers can get to their destinations. When we don’t meet our goals, aircraft often hold and possibly divert, costing airlines money and customer inconvenience.” • “Other tenants’ pressure, customer service mission in general. (How soon can you be done? How many staff members are working now?)” 32 Authority Figure Pressures • “ATCT asking about runway conditions and when things will be clear of snow and usable.” • “Managers asking how come it isn’t done yet, saying they would have had it open already, even though equipment is broken down.” • “Management decision to keep airport open when sur- rounding destination airports are closed.” • “Aircraft waiting to take off or land.” • “Charter flight arrivals/departures.” • “Airport, airline, and ATCT pressure to not close and then to reopen quickly (numerous and repeated calls to snow removal commanders).” • “There have been times when conditions on the runway are poor due to snow or ice accumulation, but staff was unable to plow the runway immediately because of the ATCT’s need to land ‘just one more aircraft.’ It puts the Snowboss in a difficult position to either allow an oper- ation when the runway conditions are poor, or make the decision to close the runway at the risk of antagonizing the ATCT and landing aircraft.” Economic Pressure • “We constantly work to maintain and expand air service at our non-hub facility. Every flight delay and cancella- tion can have a negative multiplier effect on future air service. This is always forefront in our minds when we shut down for snow removal.” • “Winter operations is an irregular or emergency opera- tion. For us, we operate with one runway versus our normal two parallel and we take air traffic delays as a result. The urgency is to restore the airport to normal operating conditions as quickly and safely as possible.” • “Impact of runway closures to the national ATC system.” • “As a one runway airport, during the ski season with occasionally 150 GA jet operations, we receive consid- erable pressure as to how soon we will be open. Our major problem is a heavy snow shower or squall and very, very shortly after the sun is out and now everyone is trying to come in or leave.” Air Carrier Pressure • “For our large-hub airport it is the inbound international arrivals—Airport Ops knows what is on the horizon and CHAPTER SEVEN PRESSURES TO KEEP THE RUNWAY OPEN

33 it is up to the snow team to have the runway ready when the airplane arrives.” • “Our non-hub airport has only one primary runway. When it is closed it affects a lot of people. Bare and dry is the safest condition on an airport and we want to get there as soon as we can.” Safety and Personal Pressure The following pressures reflect a portion of the actual pres- sures experienced during any one snow event: • Pending Lifeflight departures or organ donor flights, • Being called in late followed by broken equipment, and • The desire to reduce the impact to aircraft operations. The pressures come from many sources because of the dif- ferent goals that each source seeks as an outcome. Snow removal stands in the way of achieving those individual or company goals. For instance, airlines seek on-time perfor- mance, corporate operators seek business meetings, FBOs seek fuel sales, flight schools seek billable aircraft hours, charter operators seek contractual fulfillment, municipalities seek com- munity pride or economic impact, terminal tenants seek pas- senger business, employees seek job retention or family goals. All of these competing goals center on having the runway open and available for use. Reducing pressures on employees can be somewhat difficult as the following survey respondent implies: I don’t believe they [pressures] can be reduced. It is in the nature of the business that time is money and all the pavement areas need to be cleared. That everyone who asks about it has a good reason for asking about it. MANAGING PRESSURES The sense of urgency and the accompanying stress and fatigue is difficult to specifically identify as a cause of runway incur- sions or unsafe operations. An NTSB investigation would normally cite those factors as being contributory rather than primary. The question of how to manage or mitigate the pres- sures was sought in the synthesis survey by asking, “how can the internal and external pressures associated with resolving or completing winter snow removal operations be reduced or minimized?” Responses can be grouped into four key areas: preparation, management of expectations, adequate resources, and proper communication. Preparation • “I don’t feel the pressure can really ever be reduced or minimized. As an airport operator, we have an obliga- tion to work in a quick and effective manner to keep our travelers flying. This also has to be conducted with safety in mind at all times. Preparation is key.” • “The key approach is to establish priorities for which areas of the airport to plow and stick with it.” • “Although we strive for minimal delays and disruptions in operations when in winter operations at our medium- hub airport, it is expected that there will be delays. This helps. However through comprehensive training and planning efforts throughout the year, we are able to mit- igate those delays and disruptions.” Management of Expectations • “Maintaining accurate levels of expectations regarding timelines for the reestablishment of airport operations.” • “Education to corporate pilots, FBOs, etc., of what operators (snow removal) are up against.” • “Personnel and equipment have certain maximum lev- els of productivity. Educate the persons outside those directly involved that clearing the runway is not a 15-min operation.” • “Pressure is a GOOD thing. It keeps us sharp and operat- ing at our best. If it took us 2 days after a snowstorm to open an airport we wouldn’t be helping any of our cus- tomers. People expect that weather should not affect them in this space age. We try to accommodate that expectation. Besides, we NEVER compromise on safety. We just work smarter and faster.” • “We are inadequately equipped and staffed for snow removal. Nevertheless we are expected to deal quickly with snow. Either expectations must change or resources must be improved. Neither is likely to occur.” Adequate Resources • “Improve forecasting and real-time weather data.” • “A wireless airfield so operations can update informa- tion without having to go back to the office.” • “Sufficient and higher capacity snow removal equipment.” • “Sufficient manpower.” • “More personnel and better equipment.” • “Replacement of old and inefficient equipment.” • “Additional equipment.” • “Additional operators.” • “Additionally, have an adequate number of personnel to have restful time off and breaks between weeks of work; having first-class equipment and good mainte- nance; having the right equipment for the job, instead of trying to do the work with inadequate equipment; and providing adequate storage facilities for the equipment, material, and personnel.” • “Having ample manpower to maximize use of top-of- the-line snow equipment in a timely fashion.” Proper Communication • “Getting direction from operation department. [Knowing] what they want cleaned before going out in the field so you can bring the right equipment. Communication is the

key. If the team knows what they need to accomplish before they get out there, they take ownership of it.” • “Proper communications and updates with tenant busi- nesses, ATCT, and FSS.” • “Solid communications—Involve local air traffic and local air carrier and/or airport users in every phase of snow removal from annual planning, individual event planning, actual operations, and a post-event review/ critique. Establishing credible expectations (forecasting capacity) leading into an actual event is the best course of action in relieving internal and external pressures. Communicate to the users your performance goals and objectives, then exceed those expectations.” • “Our vehicle operators are in close contact with airline operations personnel, who inform us when an aircraft is airborne and its estimated time of arrival. Good com- munications and position report updates have pretty much eliminated the sense of urgency.” Given that there are many competing goals placed on snow removal operations and that there are four themes for mitigating the sense of urgency, it becomes incumbent on airport management to seek and promote a unifying purpose for addressing these needs. That unifying purpose, as one respondent said, is “to get everyone on the same page of safety.” • “Heavy emphasis on Safety, Safety, and more Safety.” • “From my observations, safety is paramount when working with the snow team.” • “Safety first. Someone running off and flaming out or worse will cause a closure of possibly a day or more, so having to wait until the runway surface is acceptable/ safe takes little time in comparison.” • “We hold a winter operations conference at the begin- ning of our winter operations season with all of the air carriers and tenants. We hold a comprehensive review session to remind everyone of the airport’s procedures for winter operations response. This has helped tremen- dously because when an event happens, the tenants are aware of the procedures and know what to expect.” • “Build a trust relationship with airport, airline, and ATC management that snow removal will be conducted as quickly as safety and conditions allow.” • “Snow removal operations usually shut down when visi- bility goes below 1/8 mi for safety considerations (highly unusual).” • “Unsafe snow removal operations are not tolerated here at our medium-hub airport. In a situation where a snow 34 squall may reduce visibility to zero, we have the crews stop in place until the visibility improves. This situation would never occur on an active runway, only on a NOTAM’d closed piece of airfield pavement.” • “Our procedures ensure that SAFETY is never compro- mised. While we try to work quickly, I can give you multiple examples of how we slowed down the opera- tion to make sure we were safe and the airfield was operated in a safe condition. In 2005 we had a blizzard that dumped 7 in. of snow in an hour. We suspended operations which resulted in closing the airport. It took us 6 hrs to reopen with limited capability. But all our operators and passengers were safe.” • “At times you must defer to Mother Nature. Staff is instructed to make decisions on runway and/or airport status by always erring on the side of safety; they are to make decisions as if a loved-one is on the next arriving or departing aircraft.” • “Our crews take great pride in maintaining the facility. The previous “visual” perception that all pavement must be free of contaminant has been replaced with a “safety” culture, confirmed by surface friction readings.” The last comment reflects the growing emphasis on airports establishing a safety management system. Mentioned previ- ously, an SMS strives to develop a culture at an airport that would mitigate the pressures and other risk factors common to winter operations. SUMMARY Chapter seven identifies some of the factors that create pres- sure and a sense of urgency for equipment operators, which can result in increasing the possibility of a runway incursion or collision risk. The pressures come from many sources because of the different and competing goals that each source seeks as an outcome. The chapter identifies as common themes behind the sense of urgency as being: customer service pressures, authority figure pressures, economic pressures, air carrier pres- sures, and safety and personal pressures. Examples from the responses of survey participants are provided. Also provided are responses to the question of how to manage or mitigate the pressures. Responses were grouped into four key areas: preparation, management of expectations, provision of ade- quate resources, and having proper communication. The sense of urgency is real for many airport operators and is considered a collision risk factor that needs to be addressed by airport management.