By Mike Davenport, Langley, British Columbia
En route to the airport on a Monday morning in a typical November rain shower, I spotted smoke coming from the north side of the field. The first thought was that this is not a good thing, having seen something similar once before. Of course, I defaulted to the worst-case scenario, and that was confirmed by the presence of fire department equipment, ambulances, and police vehicles all over the runways with blue and red lights flashing everywhere.
However, this was not an actual crash, but a realistic simulation intended to provide a training event for all the above departments. All the Langley Regional Airport (CYNJ) tenants and businesses had been advised by email that this “emergency preparedness and response exercise” would be taking place and the airport would be shut down for the duration. Emergency vehicles would be on all the runways and taxiways.
Smoke was coming from the helicopter “crash scene”. Parts were spread all over the ramp in front of a major aerospace business.
The helicopter that had “crashed” had two people (mannequins) on board, the pilot and a single passenger. Ambulance crews rushed to the scene and quickly removed the pilot once the firefighter extinguished the blaze. The pilot was treated on the scene and transported to the nearby hospital. The passenger, who had fled the scene, was located minutes later by the Police Dog Services Unit. They quickly got the injured passenger to medical aid. All this activity was observed by the Ministry of Transport to ensure that the response was appropriate and met the government’s requirements.
This type of training is a necessity at such a busy regional airport with several flying schools, maintenance shops, and many private and business aircraft. All such regional airports are required to comply with the requirements of the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) and hold these exercises every four years.
Patrick Sihota, the airport manager, was pleased with the actions of all the responders and gave special thanks to Jeff Booker of Standard Aero for providing access to their ramp and the supply of the “crashed” helicopter and its assorted bits and pieces.
It is nice to know the level of preparedness that has been achieved and maintained by the airport management team, should there ever be a real need. Has your home field done this?