Sometimes runways are closed except for prior permission (obtained on the radio). Don't know if that was the case there today.
Yup.
I made a low approach over Ed Nelson at KSNY once to get his attention after someone else answered the CTAF and said he was on the runway plowing snow.
He'd just forgotten to turn the radio back up in the snowplow.
Asked him how long he needed and he said the runway was fine, he was just working on the taxiway exits and he'd be off by the time we went around the pattern.
Said he needed to refill his coffee anyway (and he figured we needed fuel and he'd have to switch trucks anyway).
My passengers thought it was a hoot that we were "... talking to the guy in the snowplow or we never would have gotten down!" They thought I was some kind of super pilot. Hah.
Of course Ed's actually the super pilot, but they didn't know what he'd done in his Pitts over the years. I did but they wouldn't get it anyway if I listed his accomplishments.
Nor mentioned that back then he was busting his butt flying the FedEx Caravan out by night and back, and then managing an airport by day. I doubt he had more than four hours of sleep at a time in years back then. Especially when it snowed.
I'm sure the nice folks at TEX would have pulled off the runway for a jet fuel sale as long as they'd gotten it clean enough. But if you don't talk to them and ram their snowplow, well... y'all see the results.
Impressive how much of a beating the Beechjet can take and stay in one piece, eh? Poor thing.
