Clearing the runways and everything else

You don't often think about the behind the scenes work that has to go on at the airports. This is a picture of the Lincoln Nebraska airport last tour when that big ice storm hit. Runways need to be kept clean since contaminated runways increase the takeoff and landing distance of the airplanes. Even though LNK's runway is 10,000 feet long, there's still a safety issue - don't want to go slipping and sliding at 100 miles per hour! The taxiways and ramp (where we were parked when this picture was taken) need to be clear as well. Just like in a car, the airplane can slide on the icy pavement. In fact, when starting an airplane on an ice covered ramp, caution must be used to prevent the thrust from the spooling up engine during start to overcome the set brakes! It has been known to happen...