Best Practices on Winter Preparation and Deicing Continued from page 29 By August, we’re back inspecting our equipment and getting down to it.” After staffing up and training his people, equipment is next on Goodwin’s winter checklist. His team begins systematically inspecting each of its nine deicing units in August. “From there we’ll take the list, start on the most serious projects, and work our way down so that when September 15th , our average first frost date, rolls around we’re fully engaged and ready to go,” he said. Items on Goodwin’s winter equipment checklist include ev- erything from checking the tires on his fleet’s vehicles to running load tests on all the batteries to make sure they’ll hold a charge. Goodwin is obsessive about regularly replacing and topping off all fluids, including antifreeze and windshield washer fluid rated to at least -20, working air dryers and air heaters aimed at all pneumatic systems and vents in his facility. His team completely flushes and replenishes the fluids in the fleet’s plow and snow removal equip- ment annually, just to be safe. For its de-icing operation, Northeast Airmotive runs a fleet of six enclosed cabs and three open bucket units. “Each has its strengths in dif- ferent circumstances and weather conditions,” he said. “The goal is to always be atomizing the glycol, rather than drowning the airplane, so you’re applying less gallons to the customer and have less waste to reclaim later. Accurately blending to temperature also helps reduce waste.” “On the FBO side, all of the equip- ment also has to have the right fuel Aviation Business Journal | 4th Quarter 2016 and diesel conditioner, because, around here, you could have 40 degree weather and then 12 hours later be at -20, so you have to keep ahead of any condensation in the tanks,” he explained. “We’re right on the ocean, so you have to make sure your fuel additives are there so you don’t get any condensation; and, you have to make sure all your tanks are full so you don’t get condensation. We’re always blending to tempera- ture to get that mix just right for those big temperature swings. You can blend up with glycol or blend down with water. We use Clariant as our sole source provider for glycol because it’s a great product, with great supply and customer service.” Northeast Airmotive has also been a leader in reclaiming spent glycol, and now works with Inland Technologies on-site to reclaim and recycle it into new fluid. “We’re a 100 percent reclaim air- port, so nothing goes in the ground,” Goodwin said. “Accurately blending fluids to temperature helps reduce waste in the first place, and then, for the last five years by airport policy, everything from our groundwater, sewers, and drains is captured and reclaimed. Now we’re really eager to be able to complete the full cycle for the reclaim right here at the airport. Inland Technologies made a multi- million dollar expansion to their facil- ity here this summer to help get there. They’re bringing in spent glycol from other locations and gearing up to be able to return pure product to us.” Another item on Goodwin’s winter prep checklist seems obvi- ous: outfitting all employees who work outside with appropriate cold winter gear, including ice creepers. “We’ve learned the hard way, like everyone else, that you can do all the winter prep in the world and then still have someone go out and slip and fall, trying to do something in a hurry,” Goodwin revealed. “We try to keep that on everybody’s minds: slow down out there on the ice! If you fall and injure yourself, you’re not doing anybody any good.” “As much as we take pride in our preparations, we also acknowl- edge that no two snow storms or weather events are alike and that we always have room to improve. We like to run a pre-storm meet- ing and a post-storm meeting, to make sure all the best practices were followed, talk about what worked and what didn’t work, and try to make adjustments accordingly. And, perhaps most importantly, we’re always watching the weather, always anticipating, always planning, so nobody gets caught by surprise.” 31 Photo courtesy of Heritage Aviation
