Yeah. I gotta start hanging out at airports more often. Check out this 2015 International Workstar of the Truckee Tahoe airport. As you might imaging this little airport can experience extremely heavy snow fall. To keep the runways open the International comes equipped with a 18 foot reversible M-B P5000 front blade along with a Henderson wing. All together the two provide over 20 feet of runway clearing power.
While the truck was built by International the 4×4 systems come from M-B as well. It’s a complete package that includes axles, transfer cases and transmissions. It truely is a custom system. Make sure to stop by the M-B website to check out the full details and browse through the other truely mega machines they build for airports around the world.
I know we all pine for the days when runway trucks were massively overbuilt Walter and Oshkosh units but this truck is a pretty decent modern take on those trucks. Perhaps Walter could have survived if they had taken to intergrating their technology into the trucks of the more conventional OEMs? Bring it up with your kids around the dinner table tonight. I’m sure it will lead to a lively discussion.
A massive thanks to Ryan for sharing these photos.