Grounds Crew Definition

Depending on the geographic location, other airport ground staff may also use winter service vehicles, particularly snow removal vehicles. These include fleets of several sweepers, plows and snow blowers. Soil de-icing agents may be used; where one or more vehicles, similar to an agricultural plant sprayer with folding extendable boom arms, are used to spray non-corrosive and aircraft-safe de-icing fluid on all difficult surface surfaces, melt existing surface ice and prevent the formation of new ice during the airport`s certified operating hours. In addition, bird dispersal teams, commonly referred to as “bird terrors”, are deployed to remove birds, particularly along the entire runway, as well as on approach and exit tracks. Virtually every airport that manufactures large aircraft has a fleet of discharge tugs. Other possible classifications of airport ground staff may include airport shuttle drivers, airport firefighters, first aid and qualified medical services, police (often armed these days with a high risk of potential terrorist attacks), and general guard and security services. Airports with international connections will also have passport control officers, border, customs and immigration officers. Many airports also have a live animal reception centre staffed by veterinarians, veterinary assistants and administrators. for the purposes of veterinary health and welfare verification, as well as correct documents such as flight permits, pet passports, etc., and is also responsible for preventing the importation of illegal, prohibited or endangered species. For aircraft that do not have controls to change the direction of the aircraft, commonly known as hot air balloons, they need a particularly unique ground staff. Their tasks include preparing the passenger basket (or nacelle) with the right amount of compressed gas for the burners, testing the burners, calculating the total weight of the balloon pilot and all passengers, calculating and applying an appropriate ballast weight (fixed internal and external detachable). Then the mounting of the passenger basket on its elevator balloon shell, with the fabric of the balloon shell designed to allow effective inflation.

Prior to take-off, personnel must “rotate” the balloon envelope during horizontal burner operation to ensure efficient filling. If the balloon envelops him in the air itself (but he is still unable to lift the basket with his pilot and all passengers), the ground crew must hold the tow cables on the ground, maintain the correct position of the balloon above the burner with a now vertical fire and prevent the basket from being fired uncontrollably on the ground. until the balloon is full and ready for launch. Heroic ground crews are currently working on numerous fires and saving structures and lives. The Australian-built 38-foot-long vehicle is designed to take off and land from a regular runway and has a modular nose that ground crews can change depending on the mission. FedEx told TOSHA that it has since modified its aircraft tarmac operations manual to ensure ground personnel leave the shipper`s path before it moves. Ground personnel required for non-powered flight, such as gliders, include individuals who manually operate the glider from its storage location (such as an aircraft hangar) to their respective take-off site and then return it at the end of the flight. Towed aerial gliders require ground personnel equivalent to the support of tractor aircraft, which are usually small light utility variants of general aviation (GA), often Cessna.

In the case of winch gliders, ground staff also include winch starters and also a payment vehicle operator, whose purpose is to pull or reimburse winch launching cables (usually two cables per launcher) located at the other end of the windward side of the aerodrome to gliders waiting for their turn at the opposite end of the aerodrome. The ground staff employed by each airport includes personnel responsible for the following operations: aircraft refuelling suppliers, toilet extractors, interior cleaners, aircraft external de-icing personnel, on-board food suppliers (for crew and passengers), baggage, cargo and/or cargo handlers (for loading and unloading in the lower hold), Apron agents and gate staff, flight dispatchers and even customer service representatives can also be vaguely referred to as ground staff. [2] These sample phrases are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “ground personnel”. The views expressed in the examples do not represent the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback.