Training for a reallife Chinook crash
THERE were mass casualties when an Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter ‘crashed’ just after takeoff at Townsville Airport yesterday.
This was the scenario for Exercise Kangaroo Down which is normally held every two years at RAAF Base Townsville. The exercise, which was supposed to occur last year but was delayed by Covid, tests the skills of onbase and Queensland Emergency Services combining to respond to a simulated crash.
In this year’s scenario the airport became a simulated disaster zone after the CH-47
Chinook k ‘crashed’ with 25 defence personnel on-board and first responders arrived to find part of runway seven covered with casualties.
RAAF Base Townsville senior officer Wing Commander Mathew Green said the exercise was important to test the capabilities of those responding to a major accident.
“Exercise Kangaroo Down is about exercising the plans we have in place l for f dealing with serious scenarios which may happen at the airfield at any particular time,” he said.
“Aviation operations are a dangerous activity and particularly military aviation activities are inherently dangerous.
“We need to be prepared for the worst and today is about pulling out the plans and responding to an incident testing our on-base responders and how they respond to a crash event. It is also how we interact with the first responders from the Queensland Police Service, Queensland Ambulance Service and Queensland Fire and Emergency Service.
“This is to see how we work collaboratively when we get together and how we coordinate and respond to a significant event such as a crash.
“It is critical that we get a security cordon set up and
access whether h th there are any fatalities or what level of injuries we have got because that dictates what sort of response we need to progress with. The very first thing to do is to deal with the injured and then we go into recovery mode and we need to understand how to get the air base operational again.
“Because it closes down a runway which has a flow-on impact on aircraft coming in and out as well.”