A busy day of plowing in Milwaukee County, including the airport
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Annie Scholz road along as crews plowed the runways at Mitchell International Tuesday afternoon. Video by wtmj.com
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MILWAUKEE - Drive down just about any neighborhood street in Southeast Wisconsin and you'll see snow plows and shovels. And like the rest of us, Jason Betker has been here a few times this season.
"I'm ready to be done with it…I want spring," said Jason Betker from Oak Creek.
Getting around your neighborhood is one thing. But when you need to get around the country, there's no waiting until tomorrow to clear the white stuff for runway crews.
"We're constantly re-evaluating what we're doing. If what we're doing right now is not cutting it then we change, change the game," said Mark Slocum, Airport Operations Coordinator for Mitchell International Airport.
We got to ride along as crews worked their magic at Mitchell International Tuesday afternoon.
"We try to work with the wind as much as possible," said one driver. "Like now we just turn and want to take as much of the snow with the wind because if we're fighting it, all it's going to do is carry back."
It's a highly coordinated effort of plows, brushes, chemicals, and friction tests to clear just one runway. But they manage to do it in about 20 minutes.
"99.9% of the time the planes land just fine," Slocum said. "But we're out there and ready to take care of anything that happens."
The only thing they can't take care of is what's laying around after you land. But that's just fine by Betker.
"I've got the truck, the snow blower," he said. "We're ready to go."
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