Bush Intercontinental Airport looked like the scene of a zombie move Saturday — but it was only a drill.
FAA requires full-scale test every 3 years
It was a scene plucked from a zombie apocalypse at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport on Saturday morning.
Near the west side of the airport, a group of about 100 to 150 people stood huddled, with what appeared to be cuts, bruises, severe burns and disfigured faces with shards of glass lodged in their skin — appearing like characters from “TheWalking Dead.”
However, their smiles and laughter gave the facade away. This was only a drill. Every three years, the Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to conduct a full-scale exercise to test, train and evaluate the emergency management system in a stress environment.
The exercise includes actual mobilization of police departments, fire departments, hospitals and federal agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This is like insurance,” said Bill Begley, Houston Airport System’s spokes- man. “You always want to have it in case of emergency, but you never want to have to use it.”
This weekend’s scenario involved a airliner that departed from Miami landing in Houston but collided with a much smaller jet while on the runway.
The volunteers or “injured passengers” were shuffled to the crash scene, where they played the role they were given.
They wore colored bands that signified to first responders if a passenger was injured, severely injured or dead.
First responders were also given marks that they needed to hit after the mock collision.
“We have everyone come in waves to simulate real-life scenarios because there’s an emergency we’re not all going to in the same location,” said Ted Kitchens, airport general manager.
Every agency is responsible for making sure the worst-case scenario is handled in the best manner.
Police officers are responsible for barricading roadways; hospitals must begin prepping for mass injuries or casualties, and public information is responsible for gathering and releasing factual information.
According to the FAA, an airport has the option to choose from at least 10 scenarios, including incidents that involve terrorism, fires, natural disasters or crowd control.
The airport system makes an effort to rotate scenarios to make sure first responders are ready to tackle whatever is thrown their way. Begley empha- sized the importance of holding drills to be prepared for accidents.
Houston has had share of near disasters.
In 2014, twice two planes almost collided mid-air before air traffic controllers corrected their course. FAA rules say that aircraft must remain separated a halfmile vertically and 3 miles horizontally.
The American Public its University System issued a report in 2009 on airport exercises, adding that “two very strong conclusions emerge from this study.”
First, U.S. airports have generally been aggressively planning for disasters beyond the traditional boundaries and that “airport managers have a deep understanding and appreciation that good working relationships with surrounding emergency management agencies are essential to airport preparedness.”
In the past in the airport held similar drills. In 2002, the airport staged a mock plane crash.
The imaginary flight from Cleveland crashed as it was trying to land on the runway. The airport even went as far as to give one of the volunteers the role of Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Dismembered mannequins were used to simulate body parts strewn outside of the jet.
Three years ago, officials say the scenario was a hijacking.
Results from the fullscale emergency drill will be assessed and used to strengthen the airport’s emergency response efforts and strategies.
The exercise took place onarunwaythatwas under maintenance, so regularly scheduled flights and operation were not affected.
“This is important to our operation,” Kitchens said. “Safety is a priority and something we discuss regularly, not just once every three years.”