Airport emergency handling

While studying about airport security and safety we looked at some of the emergencies that could arise at an airport. The airport security system and the airport safety management system together can prevent a lot of emergencies from arising in the first place. However, there are certain emergencies over which the airport does not have any control. For example if an arriving plane has developed engine trouble and has a problem in landing, the airport cannot do anything other than to provide facilities for an emergency landing and cater to all situations that may arise in the process. A few more examples of possible emergencies that would affect normal airport operations are aircraft crash, bomb threat, fire at the terminal, outbreak of global flu pandemic, etc.  While the possibility for such emergencies to occur is very remote (because airlines also employ a lot of safety measures) airports must always be prepared to handle such eventualities.

Passengers aboard Etihad Airways flight to Indonesia were injured when the plane hit "severe and unexpected turbulence" causing the pilot to declare a full emergency. (5^th May 2016, www.bbc.com)

All airports must have a plan to respond to a ‘partial’ or ‘full’ emergency. During an emergency, the airport takes no chances and takes action expecting the worst. For example, if a plane having a problem with its landing gear is coming to land, the airport prepares for the eventuality of the plane catching fire during landing, a lot of passengers sustaining injuries and the runway being rendered unusable. Therefore the airport fire service is called up, medical services are put on alert, other ground services are arranged so that airport operations can continue with minimum hindrance from the emergency, and if necessary other flights arriving subsequently are diverted to other airports. It may later turn out that the aircraft was still able to land safely (as pilots are highly trained personnel who are skilled at handling such situations) and all the preparations that were lined up were actually not necessary. Nevertheless emergency plans always assume the worst and never take chances. The emergency preparedness at an airport is a key element of the airport’s capabilities. A pilot in a plane coming to land should feel free to declare an emergency any time if he feels that it is necessary to do so depending on a situation prevailing in the plane. Once the pilot declares the emergency and informs the airport, it is immediately conveyed to all parties at the airport and the emergency plan of the airport is put into action.

Pilots know when to declare an emergency.

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To check the effectiveness of the airport’s emergency plan, emergency exercises are carried out regularly. During an emergency exercise, a fictitious emergency is declared and role plays are done to mimic an actual emergency so that all parties involved in handling an emergency get a chance to play their parts and in the process identify any deficiencies. In this manner the airport can always ensure that its emergency plan is effective and can be used in an actual emergency.

An emergency drill in progress at an airport

The airport fire service represent one of the most important elements in the emergency service chain. Recall that an airplane has a large volume of fuel stored in it. If a plane catches fire, it would be a matter of minutes before the entire plane is engulfed in flames and explodes. Therefore handling an aircraft fire is much more challenging than urban firefighting. Aircraft fire fighting has more to do with saving lives than putting out the fire. When the airport fire station receives a call regarding an aircraft on fire it must respond immediately. The fire vehicles must reach the site in a matter of seconds. For this reason, airport fire vehicles are designed to be able to attain very high speeds in a very short time. The fire must be brought under control within 2 minutes of the first call and all persons in the plane must be evacuated within 3 minutes.

Fire station of Kent International Airport UK (Picture source:www.kiafire.org.uk)

This is a very stringent requirement found in very few civilian operations. To respond quickly, airport fire vehicles are always kept running and whenever an aircraft is landing or taking off, fire personnel get into the vehicle in preparedness to set off immediately in case of an emergency. At large airports where it is not possible for fire vehicles to reach every locations in a short time by setting out from a single location, fire stations are laid out in a distributed manner across the airport premises so that every location of the airport is reachable in a very short time from at least one of the stations.

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Heathrow Airport Fire Service (Picture source: www.airport-technology.com)

After handling an emergency effectively, the next challenge is to resume normal operations at the airport as soon as possible. The biggest challenge lies in clearing the runway. If the emergency leaves a wreckage on the runway, and if the airport has only a single runway, it would be necessary to close the airport for air traffic until the runway is cleared. Many airports build the clearing of runways also into their emergency plan so that the runway is cleared as part of handling the emergency.

If the emergency results in a large number of casualties, it may not be possible to dispatch all of them to hospital. Therefore the airport must be geared to provide basic first aid to all casualties and accommodate them until more intense medical attention could be provided. It must employ the required number of medical and paramedical staff, stock adequate medication and have necessary equipment at hand. Airport medical units play a major role in emergency handling.

Casualties must be promptly dispatched to hospital

As mentioned earlier, airport emergencies are very rare occurrences and it is good that it is so. Due to the stringent safety precautions employed at ground and in air, it is very unlikely for an emergency to occur. Nevertheless, airport personnel involved in the emergency plan cannot afford to drop their guard and become complacent. They must always act in anticipation of an emergency. Such preparedness is something common in the military but it is difficult for civilian establishment to adopt to it. Being prepared for an eventuality on daily basis which never seems to occur is not easy. Yet, that fateful moment may come any day at any time without prior indication, and when it does, they must be ready to spring into action. This is one of the challenges of being an aviator.

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