Pittsburgh International Airport Lands Safety Award

Travel + Leisure Magazine has given the 's snow and ice removal systems a safety nod.

The publication named Pittsburgh International the fourth safest airport in the country earlier this month. The magazine calculated data from the 35 busiest commercial airports in the United States that had the fewest and least severe runway incidents from 2006 to 2010.

The top-15 airports on the list had no life-threatening incidents during the four-year period. Pittsburgh International reported six safety incidents since 2006, according to the magazine.

The magazine praised the aiport's state-of-the-art winter operations systems, which include front and rear de-icing teams, runway sensors that relay real-time snow and ice conditions and radio commuications between crews and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Pittsburgh's airport edged out New York's LaGuardia; Washington, D.C.'s Ronald Reagan and the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, to top the list.

In September 1994, US Air Flight 427 crashed while approaching runway 28R of Pittsburgh International Airport, killing all 132 people on board. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the crash was the loss of rudder control on the Boeing 737-300.