Redmond Airport prepping for winter conditions

With temperatures as low as they are, traveling is always difficult — especially if you’re flying.

Anyone who’s flown during the winter knows how important de-icing the plane is. There is actually no umbrella policy that all airlines fall under when it comes to de-icing.

“Each air carrier has their own de-icing program, and they will start using that program when there’s contamination involved,” explained RDM Media Relations Manager Nicole Jurgensen. “So the contamination can be snow, ice, freezing rain.”

On sunny days, though, they actually won’t even de-ice the plane. They’ll just let the sun beat down on it and let nature do the work for them.

But early-morning flights may need de-icing, and there are always days with no sun and no luck.

There were plenty of people in the terminal Wednesday with stories about flying in winter weather.

“The pilot got to the end of the runway, turned to the taxiway — and we slid off the taxiway,” said one traveler.

Another recounted a time when they “started to take off, and came back to be de-iced.”

“The airline employee was telling me that several of their planes were delayed in Seattle because they were de-icing and they ran out of de-ice material,” said another.

NewsChannel 21 will keep Central Oregonians updated on the winter weather. To check your flight’s status online, visit http://www.flyrdm.com/?Flight-Status