My Experience at KRFD during a snow storm
My Experience at KRFD during a snow storm
I had the honor of photographing the airport employees doing their snow removal the other night when the snow came in. We all sit back and we do not think about what really goes into an airport operations, when the weather turns bad. But I got to experience first hand on the hard work and dedication the staff at the Rockford Airport do, when the weather turns bad. They were out in full force keeping the runways, taxi ways, ramps, etc… all clear of ice and snow. So, the incoming flights of the UPS planes could come in and land safely. To see the these huge machines that had 25 foot plows, or bigger, makes you really appreciate the hard work and dedication these employees have. And to see this equipment up close is just jaw dropping. I never knew such big plows existed. And to see the employees who endure several hours in the cramped cabins of these equipment, you can see it takes a toll on them. But they still are out there working their butts off to keep the airport safe and operational. I took some photos and video, and I am still going through them, I only been through a handful of them so far.
Frontier Mel
This Frontier aircraft came in from Denver not to long before I arrived at the airport. It was full of passengers. As you can see it is a beautiful aircraft. The Frontier uses many different animals for their tails. This one was “MEL” they were cleaning up the aircraft when I took this photo. This aircraft was due to go out in a few hours down to Cancun! How i would of loved to been on that flight! But I couldn’t LOL. What I liked even more about the aircraft, the tail number has my favorite numbers “952″ for the tail number. So, not only was this a beautiful aircraft, it had my favorite numbers on it as well.
Frontier Mel Aircraft
Inside Frontier N952FR
I had the honor to briefly go up inside the Frontier aircraft while they were cleaning it. I can honestly say this aircraft was very clean, considering a bunch of passengers just unloaded off of it not to long before I took this photo. I only stood in the walkway in the front of the aircraft, because my feet was wet from the snow and i was not about to track the water/snow inside the aircraft. This employee did an awesome job at cleaning this beautiful aircraft.
Ryan Air KRFD
I was lucky enough to see two RYAN AIR aircraft on the ramp while I was there. Here is one of them. The other one was behind this one. As you can see in the photo, the snow is coming down pretty good. RYAN AIR does a lot of charter flights. Many do not realize, they help our troops out a lot as well. I highly respect this airline. Their HQ is located here in Rockford. They do a lot of International flights. If I recall, one of these came from FT Benning earlier this day. Many kudos to this airline!
KRFD Refuel truck
During this snowstorm, this refuel truck (and many others) were out in full force refueling, so they could go to the aircraft on the ramp and fuel them up. These poor guys had to endure this nasty cold and snowy weather. I was surprised to see all the hard work and dedication all of the employees were doing, during this snow storm. I can’t really say surprised, what I mean it was nice to see their hard work and dedication to their jobs, while dealing with very poor weather conditions. Keep up the awesome work guys!
KRFD Tower and Snow Plow
This was probably one of my favorite photos I took that night. As you can see the snowplows are out in full force. You can see the snowplow, the tower and the American flag and the beacon light. All in the one photo. You can see in the photo, how much snow was coming down. The ceiling was very low this night. I forgot the altitude. But the people in the tower guide the aircraft into land safely. This photo is like an all in one photo. You have the tower guiding the aircraft in to land. You have the snow plow clearing the snow and ice from the runways/taxi ways and side paths. And the American Flag blowing in the wind. To show how dedicated Americans are to their jobs. And the beacon to shine light on the poor weather conditions. Truly one of my favorite photos I took that night.
I have more photos, but I have yet to go through them all and sort em out yet. So more photos will be posted later on.
I can honestly say, it was a very pleasant experience being able to observe the employees working hard. I never knew how much goes into keeping an airport safe and operational during a snowstorm. And just think, this happens every time it snows! I give many kudos to the staff at the Rockford Airport for keeping the airport safe and operational during poor weather.
So, next time it is snowing, please keep in mind the employees working hard out at the airport, and all the airports. Trying to keep the airport safe and operational. All the long hours they put into their jobs. While some of you might be laid over due to the weather, just look outside and see that the airport is truly trying to keep their operations going. Take a minute and thank the airport staff when you see them. Thank them for all their hard work and dedications to their jobs.
Below is a video I took of a UPS plane taxiing down the taxi way after landing.
