Airport crews get ready for winter storms

THE ROADS ICY. IT MAY ONLY BE OCTOBER - BUT CREWS AT THE SUNPORT ARE ALREADY GETTING READY F...  More »

THE ROADS ICY. IT MAY ONLY BE OCTOBER - BUT CREWS AT THE SUNPORT ARE ALREADY GETTING READY FOR THE NEXT BIG WINTER BLAST. THE RECORD- BREAKING SNOWSTORM LAST DECEMBER SHUT DOWN THE SUNPORT AND STRANDED TRAVELERS. NOW, AIRPORT OFFICIALS ARE TRYING TO PREVENT THAT FROM HAPPENING AGAIN. JEFF MAHER IS LIVE AT THE SUNPORT WITH WHAT'S IN THE WORKS.-- JEFF? FOR MOST PEOPLE IT SEEMS LIKE IT WAS JUST YESTERDAY - TEN MONTHS AGO THIS PLACE WAS BURIED UNDER A BLANKET OF SNOW AND TRAVELERS WERE LEFT STRANDED. NOW, CREWS ARE TRAINING FOR A REPEAT. THE RUNWAYS ARE DRY. THE PLANES ARE TAKING OFF JUST FINE. BUT THE SNOWPLOWS ARE OUT AT THE SUNPORT AS IF THEY WERE RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIFTY- YEAR STORM. 'our biggest obstacle last year was it just would not stop snowing'AIRPORT WORKERS ARE GOING THROUGH EXERCISES ON SNOW REMOVAL. AND THEY HAVE GOOD REASON TO DO THAT NOW. THE AIR IS GETTING COLDER - WINTER IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER - AND THE NIGHTMARE OF LAST YEAR'S RECORD BREAKING SNOWSTORMS IS ANYTHING BUT FORGETTABLE. 'and we just never had that volume of snow before in as long as I've been here' LAST YEAR THE BIG STORMS FORCED THE SUNPORT TO SHUT DOWN FOR HOURS. CREWS SAY THEY HAD PLENTY OF EQUIPMENT - BUT RAN OUT OF ROOM TO DUMP THE SNOW THAT THEY CLEARED OFF THE RUNWAYS AND TAXIWAYS. NOW, THEY'RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHERE THEY CAN CLEAR THE SNOW WITHOUT CAUSING ANY PROBLEMS. ALL OF THESE TRUCKS, PLOWS, SWEEPERS, AND SALT SPREADERS WILL CONTINUE MAKING THE ROUNDS ON DRY GROUND IN CASE THINGS, ONCE AGAIN, GET REALLY NASTY. 'we're ready to go, all equipment is a hundred percent, we've been training and exercising equipment for more than a month now' THE SUNPORT HASN'T ADDED ANY NEW EQUIPMENT THIS YEAR - BUT STILL INSIST THEY'RE WELL PREPARED. COMING UP AT SIX - WE'LL TELL YOU WHAT ALBUQUERQUE AND SANTA FE HAVE DONE DIFFERENTLY TO DEAL WITH ANOTHER PARALYZING STORM. LIVE AT THE SUNPORT. JEFF MAHER. EYEWITNESS NEWS FOUR.  « Less