Keeping an airport open can be challenging during harsh winter weather. Yet, when the Washington, D.C. area received one of the heaviest snow accumulations in its history, with more than 50 in. last winter, Washington Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia remained open.
“We didn’t close this past winter — the only airport of the three Washington-area that didn’t,” said Mark Philpott, the airport’s equipment programs coordinator. “We always had at least one runway [of three] open, access highways clear and interior roads passable.”
Philpott credited the Dulles Airport Equipment Maintenance Division’s hard-working staff and its fleet of trucks, including Kenworth T800 dump trucks, for meeting the snow removal challenge. For its efforts, the airport received the American Association of Airport Executives annual award for exemplary snow removal.
The airport division’s snow removal success resulted from scheduling the right vehicle for the right job. To get the right truck in the first place, Philpott is following a program of smart spec’ing that figures in life-cycle costs. The division’s latest trucks are the closely spec’d Kenworth T800s, which stood up to the snow, ice and salt where previous trucks didn’t.
“I wanted to specify the dump trucks for our severe application,” said Philpott. “I wanted to build them on the heavy side to withstand the wear and tear. They had to survive against the salt and, ideally, I’d like to see them last for 15 years. We don’t put many miles on them, but they have to be durable and reliable. And, I wanted automatic transmissions to make it easier for operators as they move between vehicles.”
As a result, the airport chose the Kenworth T800. “The T800’s aluminum and fiberglass cab resists the corrosive effects of melting agents,” said Dave Johnson of Truck Enterprises Richmond, the local Kenworth dealer in Richmond, VA. “They also contain extra insulation that holds more warm air in the cab for heat, controls humidity and cuts down on interior noise.”
Details such as the Kenworth T800’s split, flat glass windshield also made an impression. “It’s not uncommon after a heavy winter to have to replace all of your truck windshields because of the wipers grinding salt and sand against the glass,” Philpott said. “Big curved windshields that you find on many heavy-duty trucks are much more expensive to replace than the windshield on the T800. So, by buying the right equipment that will give us the durability and performance we look for in these trucks, we save money over the long term.”
Philpott also likes the vertical wipers that horizontally sweep the Kenworth T800’s windshield. “It doesn’t pack snow and ice at the base of the windshield as much. The driver has improved visibility in poor conditions,” he said.
The Kenworth T800’s narrower body and sloped hood also means less snow accumulates on the truck’s front and hood. The less the snow that builds up, the fewer the number of times the operator has to jump out and clear it away from the front of the truck.
The Kenworth T800’s, built according to Philpott’s specifications, are equipped with 370-hp (276 kW) engines. The trucks have 44,000-lb. (19,958 kg) drive axles that feed maximum power to the wheels to help push snow and haul gravel. “I gear the trucks real low and shoot for a top speed of 55 mph,” said Philpott. “I’d rather have more of the engine’s power go to pushing and hauling.”
As the cold weather season rapidly approaches, Washington Dulles International Airport will again rely on its Kenworth T800’s to help get the job done.
Kenworth Tuck Company, a division of PACCAR Inc., is one of the leading manufacturers of heavy- and medium-duty trucks. Kenworth was the recipient of the 2003 J.D. Power and Associates award for Highest in Customer Satisfaction among pickup and delivery segment Class 8 trucks.
For more information, visit www.kenworth.com.
