Snowflags / Airfield Reflective Marker System (ARMS)

Moved from the Binbrook thread

canberra;93570 wrote:

Ah snowflags, thank god theyve been got rid of!

Err no, still got them at Shawbury ! Did have them at Ternhill until OC VGS wanted them removed !!

Luckily I didn't put them all in or pull them up a week later !

You should see the size of the buggers we put out at Goose Bay....!

You'll need them around the beginning of February.

All right Ill ask it, why has Shawbury still got snow flags??? I suppose knowing the RAF as I do I suppose one unit would have to be different!

As we don't have any blacktop cover the snow flags are only for the lazy lane leading over the main rwy to ATC, and on to Storage.
They were put out at Ternhill for the first time since I got there(8 yrs) but who ever decided didn't tell OC 632 VGS so after the rwys were flagged they all had to be removed as they were too high for the Vigilants to taxi over them !

arnt snow markers only used on operational bases not training bases now

thanks rich

Are we getting confused between snowflags and what I know as ARMS? ARMS is IIRC Airfield Reflective Marker System, and was the only system in use after approox 92, and they were left out all year round. We didnt have any blacktop cover at Barkston but it still had ARMS.

We did have the ARMS(orange plastic tubes with white or blue sleeves on and sat in a yellow cup in the ground) but also our heli's caused downdraught problems and would often blow the ARMS loose and they weren't frangible enough to come out of the ground if hit by a heli ! Also our giant metal corkscrew(for making holes)snapped so many times we now use the old snowflags(18 inch high piece of wood painted all white and the end, not hammered into the ground, dayglo)

At Marham the ARMS holes were drilled into the concrete by a local contractor to save us making a mess of the grass !

ARMS, snowflags, aren't we being a bit picky?
They do the same job and at both Mawgan and Saints they've always been referred to as 'snowflags'. They are used for marking M/T routes and roads, aswel as aircraft manouvering areas.

No Im not being picky. When ARMS came in to use in 1992 they were called ARMS not snowflags. They are in use all year round not just during the winter, and they can be used by aircraft at night with no airfield lighting.

Only ever used them as snow markers where I work, put out in October and brought back in during May, used to enjoy doing it on behalf of the assistants on a sunny day!
It seems different airfields have different strategies for them.