Phuket Airport to stage midnight 'mega-sim' emergency response drill

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Phuket Airport to stage midnight ‘mega-sim’ emergency response drill
Tanyaluk Sakoot


The drill will simulate an Airbus 320 sliding off the runway at Phuket International Airport. Photo: Phuket International Airport

PHUKET: -- Emergency teams at Phuket International Airport will stage a full-scale drill at 1am on Sept 10 by using a real Airbus 320 to simulate an aircraft crash landing in Phuket.

Monrudee Gettuphan, Director of Phuket International Airport, told The Phuket News that the simulation will be held in the middle of the night to simulate the reality of emergency teams working in the dark.

“This exercise will simulate what may happen in reality,” she said. “In the exercise, the emergency teams will be responding to an aircraft that slid off the runway.”

Bangkok Airways is providing one its Airbus 320 aircraft to use in the simulation.

However, the Airbus will not be stationed along the runway during the exercise for safety reasons, Ms Monrudee explained.

“This is to add realism to the incident so that emergency teams will be better prepared to respond in real situations, Ms Monrudee explained.

“It will also help boost passengers’ confidence in our ability to respond effectivly to such emergencies.”

The exercise, titled PEMEX 2015, will include the co-ordinated efforts of ambulance teams, paramedics, hospital staff and airlines in safely recovering as many “injured” persons from the aircraft as possible.

The simulation also closely recreates the fatal crash of One-Two-GO Airlines Flight 269 (OG269) at Phuket Airport on September 16, 2007.

Flight 269, operated by a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed into an embankment beside the main runway mid-afteroon amid stormy weather with strong crosswinds.

The aircraft burst into flames upon impact, killing 89 of the 130 persons on board. One survivor succumbed to burn injuries several days after the crash.

Following damning reports over safety regulations, One-Two-GO was subsequently shut down by its parent company Orient Thai, which still operates flights today.

Source: http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-airport-to-stage-midnight-mega-sim-emergency-response-drill-54013.php


-- Phuket News 2015-09-08

[Kannikapor88]

“It will also help boost passengers’ confidence in our ability to respond effectivly to such emergencies.”

Are you gonna allow them to go through the "Fast lane" in Immigration without extorting them 300B ... ?