Post Ahmedabad flight crash, AAI undertakes full-scale emergency exercise at Chennai airport
Following the flight crash at Ahmedabad, Airports Authority of India carried out a full-scale emergency exercise on Saturday at Chennai airport to assess the preparedness.
This was part of the periodic testing of the 'Airport Emergency Plan' and was done with the objective of examining the airport's preparedness and coordination efforts between various agencies when a major aircraft accident occurs within the vicinity of the airport, according to a press release.
During the drill, they simulated the crash of a commercial aircraft with 50 passengers and five crew members, shortly after take-off and its effect on the location close to the airport, near the Officers Training Academy. Following a distress call received by Air Traffic Control, emergency was initiated, fire tower was alerted, and emergency response protocol was triggered.
The fire services deployed crash tenders and simulated post-crash fire was mitigated, and it enabled beginning of rescue operations. After the injured passengers were rushed to medical facilities in ambulances, CISF cordoned off the crash site and set up a Quick Reaction Team perimeter. The aircraft's Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder (Black Box) were located and secured subsequently, the release said.
A structured debriefing was conducted post-exercise to assess performance metrics, response time compliance, inter agency coordination and to identify potential areas for procedural enhancement, the release said.
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