The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is urging airports to be extra alert to the weather as shipments of coronavirus vaccines are delivered around the country.
The first of those flights aboard a FedEx cargo plane landed at Sea-Tac International Airport on Sunday night. FedEx is handling the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine west of the Mississippi River, and for western Washington, its biggest jets use Sea-Tac Airport.
It is not as busy as it was during the boom year of 2019, but now the pressure is on to make sure the vaccine flights can keep coming in safely.
Crews at Sea-Tac Airport practice clearing the runways twice a day for when the Seattle area gets slammed with ice and snow. Their mission is to keep planes landing and taking off, but their mission is now more important than ever.
“To make sure we're staffed and ready in case there's some inclement weather especially when these [vaccine] deliveries are supposed to be happening,” said Shawn McCormick, the general foreman for a crew the clears runways at Sea-Tac Airport.
With 45 pieces of equipment including plows and blowers, broom trucks, deicing trucks and sanders, technicians taking care of the airfield said they will not quit when dealing with winter weather.
“The crown jewel in the fleet is the combination machine, with a 22-foot plow on the front,” said McCormick.
McCormick said he still drives, especially during those storms when two full crews are kept on the job on 12-hour shifts. He said the vehicles are big, move a lot of snow, and "relatively easy" to drive.
The crews will keep practicing twice a week, keeping at the ready, with clean runways more important than ever.
