Danny:-
"Nonsense !" snapped CFI, "I've just come down from my Quarter, all the roads are perfectly firm and dry ! After Briefing, I'll try the Runway myself".
If it is of any consolation, Danny, he wasn't the only CFI with a Canute like attitude to icy runways. Ours at Oakington, where the ice had built up over the Christmas grant by snowing, thawing, freezing, and repeating as above, certainly displayed the same sangfroid as displayed by yours. All we students were sent out into the icy wilderness to hack at the stuff with shovels and picks until we had at last cleared half the length and half the width of the runway.
Our job wasn't made easier by the failure of the previous good idea which was to park and chock the 5FTS Vampires in echelon at the runway end, start them up, and run the engines up to melt the snow and ice. The resultant slush had nowhere to go, as the drains were frozen up as well, and soon reverted to an even more formidable icy covering than was there before.
Finally our labours were declared sufficient and we retired to the warmth and shelter of our crewrooms from where we watched the next part of the saga. CFI starts up Vampire, taxies onto our mini runway, gets airborne, does a circuit, and makes his approach. Touchdown was at the very start of the cleared surface, but that was quickly consumed. Now he was careering along the remaining uncleared half until finally being brought to a halt by the barrier.
Plan B was now brought into play, our aircraft (Varsities for we ME types) were to be flown off but positioned to nearby Wyton, which had been blacktop all along thanks to that other great RAF secret weapon, the trailer mounted Goblins. We students were then bused back and forth until Nature finally relented and handed us back our own runway again...