Airport put to the test

EMERGENCY units from the NSW Police, Federal Police, Fire Brigade, Ambulance Service, Rural Fire Service and SES descended on Illawarra Regional Airport on Monday afternoon in response to a staged bomb threat.

The mock threat was received by telephone at 1:30pm at the terminals check-in facility.

As the drama unfolded, the aircraft with the suspected bomb on board was instructed to land and was taxied to the airports designated bomb-threat area away from the terminal building.

Emergency service personnel rushed to the aircraft and started evacuating passengers. During the evacuation, a number of incidents occurred including one passenger falling and breaking their leg, one suffering heart failure and dying while being moved to an ambulance and others suffering from shock.

A bomb with a timing device was located on the plane, but bomb disposal personnel were unable to diffuse it in the mock trial.

The bomb exploded at approximately 2:00pm causing an extreme fire hazard, which was eventually brought under control by the Fire Brigade using a foam cannon.

To make matters worse, during the drama a further phone call was received at approximately 2:10pm indicating another bomb was set to explode and that the explosion would be much bigger than the first.

A full-scale search of the airport facility was undertaken and a second bomb was located close to one of the airports fuel facilities.

The bomb was diffused and at around 3:00pm the police declared the area secure.

This air disaster incident was played out as part of an Airport Emergency Management Training Exercise aimed at testing and tuning the facilitys emergency response plan

More than 80 emergency services personnel were involved in the bi-annual training exercise.

The disaster was set up to test all aspects of emergency management, including emergency communications, rescue, evacuations and security.

Shellharbour City Council is required to test its emergency management plan every two years, as part of the Civil Aviation Safety Authoritys licensing conditions.

Airport Manager, Arthur Webster, said the day was designed to ensure that all emergency response agencies are aware of their roles and responsibilities in the Illawarra Regional Airport Emergency Plan and are familiar with the airport layout.

There is no better way to test our emergency procedures than with a simulated exercise which tests the activation, control and coordination of the Illawarra Regional Airport Emergency Plan, he said.

The exercise involved NSW Police, Federal Police, SES, Fire Brigade, Airport staff and operators, Qantas personnel and representatives from Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS). Representatives of the Attorney Generals Department attended as observers to the exercise.

Sgt John Klepserak of the Lake Illawarra Command said that pending the official umpires report on the exercise, everything had gone smoothly.

It shows that the emergency services in the Illawarra work well together, Sgt Klepserak said.

Exercises like this one give us the opportunity to build on what we already know and hone our skills.