Narrative:

During my two minute overlap having been relieved from local; I observed a sweeper vehicle going onto runway 15 at taxiway B immediately after hearing my relief clear an aircraft for takeoff. Local noticed the same thing and immediately cancelled the aircraft's takeoff clearance. The vehicle was then instructed to report off of the runway. This was a fairly new ground controller working snow removal operations for one of the first times. He was certified on the position in a time where snow removal wasn't happening. There may or may not be any refresher training conducted on snow removal operations here and the cpcs that have been around a while can manage; but new people have no actual training on the operation; depending on when they were training. This should be looked at and corrected. Recommend at a minimum; a training class with current cpc be a requirement before working ground control for anyone not trained in the actual operation.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Tower Controller cancelled a takeoff clearance after observing a sweeper entering the runway; the reporter noting the Ground Controller was inexperienced working snow removal operations and failing to coordinate with Local.

Narrative: During my two minute overlap having been relieved from Local; I observed a sweeper vehicle going onto Runway 15 at Taxiway B immediately after hearing my relief clear an aircraft for takeoff. Local noticed the same thing and immediately cancelled the aircraft's takeoff clearance. The vehicle was then instructed to report off of the runway. This was a fairly new Ground Controller working snow removal operations for one of the first times. He was certified on the position in a time where snow removal wasn't happening. There may or may not be any refresher training conducted on snow removal operations here and the CPCs that have been around a while can manage; but new people have no actual training on the operation; depending on when they were training. This should be looked at and corrected. Recommend at a minimum; a training class with current CPC be a requirement before working Ground Control for anyone not trained in the actual operation.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.