RAF ground crews battle the snow

Despite temperatures dropping to as low as -10 degrees, and up to six inches (15cm) of snow lying on the tarmac, Service and civilian personnel battled the elements to maintain the fleet of RAF transport aircraft and keep supplies, equipment and personnel moving to and from the front line.

Only two operational flights were lost as Britain was plunged into travel chaos when a blanket of snow covered the country, and the black top at RAF Brize Norton.

The crews of 216 Squadron that operate the fleet of nine TriStar aircraft, configured to carry passengers including the injured, help to move up to 1,000 troops every week in and out of Afghanistan through Kandahar Airfield.

The aircraft are flown to their limits nearly every day as the nature of the approach into an operational theatre is very different to the approach into an international airport.

As a result, stresses on the airframes are much greater.

Adding the problems that extreme cold weather can bring means the engineers on the ground are kept very busy.

Flight Lieutenant Andy Climie, Officer Commanding TriStar Support, said:

"First and foremost everything takes much longer when it's cold.

"Because of the size of aircraft we can't put it in a hangar. Everything we do is still done outside and that poses us problems. Generally equipment gets cold but more importantly the troops get cold.

"We have to cater for ice and frost on an aircraft, and de-icing it, which means despatching it takes longer but we still need to make sure the aircraft makes its take-off slot.

"Snow and ice on the runway will have a massive effect on the aircraft and, like a car, its stopping distances. A drop in air pressure around the UK can have a massive impact on the aircraft's performance."

The squadron is scheduled for seven flights a week, including two as reserve frames (or ghost flights) to cater for the unexpected. Back-up crews are also on duty to cover for any delays.

Squadron Leader Jamie Osborne, 216 Squadron operations, said:

"The airfield at RAF Brize Norton has the same problems as Luton, Stansted or Heathrow. When the snow came there were seven or eight trucks out on the tarmac at any one time trying to clear it."

216 Squadron statistics :

• 858 missions flown (out and in)
• 85,957 passengers carried
• 2,849,589kg of baggage moved
• 103,157kg of mail moved
• 2,384,744kg of cargo moved
• 750 aeromedical patients carried in 2008

This article is taken from the 27 February 2009 edition of RAF News - Voice of the Royal Air Force.