Alaska Airlines and the Port of Seattle invited the media to see a full scale snow removal practice session highlighting some new equipment and procedures in the process.

Last winter's heavy snow was a motivating factor in getting the new gear, acknowledged Alaska Airline's "Snow Czar" Scott Ridge.

The company has gone to a system of centralized de-icing pads and has purchased eight new de-icing trucks. "These new trucks have enclosed cabs so it keeps the technicians comfortable but it also has compressed air so it allows us to do this de-icing with engines running. So it makes it a lot faster. We used to do our de-icing at the gate in about 20 minutes so now we should be able to do it in about 12", Ridge said.

The airline also noted the reduced transit time needed to refill the de-icing trucks. Three "nurse trucks" were purchased to shuttle fluid (propylene gycol) from the holding tanks in the hangar to the de-icing trucks. They also increased the storage capacity of de-icing fluid at the airport by 70 percent.

There is now an 80,000 gallon storage total on site which should permit the spraying of 100 airplanes a day for 10 days of light snow. To bring it all together they have also enhanced training by expanding to a two day course with hands-on training and classroom learning. An updated FAA approved de-icing procedure manual was used to train more than 400 line maintenance technicians, management and auditors from three departments.

The Port of Seattle also has on hand a fleet of 37 snow plows, blowers, sweepers and de-icing vehicles. Terry Tucker, Manager of the Aviation Maintenance Field Crew said, "We have three new pieces of equipment that we did not have last year, but our procedure's pretty much the same."

The procedure involves using the gear to clear the runways of snow and ice until it's essentially wet pavement. Then a specialized "Friction Tester" car is deployed, using a fifth wheel under the car to determine if there is enough friction for planes to take off and land.