With the somewhat rare significant snowfall recently in the lower mainland I made my way out to YVR to capture some images of the snow removal operations at YVR.
YVR has some impressive machinery for snow removal which includes:
3 trucks capable of spreading solid and liquid materials to make sure the runways and taxiways do not freeze in cold winter conditions.
6 “Multi-Hogs” which can be equipped with a broom or a blower and or a chemical applicator.
5 Oshkosh P-Series/MB 4600 “All in One” trucks, that can each plough and sweep a 24 foot wide path on the airport runways and taxiways.
3 Oshkosh H-Series Sweepers that each have a 22 foot wide high speed broom attached.
5 Oshkosh H-Series Snow Blowers that can each launch 5,000 tons of snow 150 feet every hour. That is a combined capacity of 25,000 tons of snow being blown off runways and taxiways every hour!
3 Oshkosh P-Series Trucks that have a 24 foot wide high speed snow plough on the front end.
When a combination of this equipment is brought to bear to clear a runway or taxiway it is called an “echelon”. A full runway can be cleared in about 20 minutes.
The airport also has access to front end loaders and dump trucks to move and deposit collected snow to designated snow storage areas on the airport grounds.
Below are a few images of the various pieces of equipment in action during the recent snowfall. Click on a thumbnail to see a larger image.
Creativescans 