KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A large-scale effort goes into making sure KCI functions properly amid the ice and snow.
KCI has 15.4 million square feet of runway and taxiway and 7.2 million square feet of roads and parking areas to keep clean.
To do that, crews use 16 huge snowplows equipped with rotary brooms that are 20 feet wide. The snow blowers are almost six feet tall and can move 7,500 tons of snow in an hour.
Prepping the planes is important for aerodynamics, so sleet doesn't pile up on the wings. A boom will lift a worker up to spray the de-icing fluid, potassium acetate, on the planes. The fluid is not what any regular person would use on their cars or driveways; that could corrode the sensitive parts on the plane.
