The Pocatello Regional Airport held an emergency exercise Wednesday morning.
The full-scale drill was organized to test communication, response, and procedures in the event of a real aircraft emergency.
A decommissioned NASA airplane was used to simulate a plane crash with limited communication. Local fire crews, air medical, and local ambulances all participated.
Students from the Idaho State University Aviation Mechanics program played the part of injured passengers. Airport Manager Alan Evans says emergency drills like these help prepare airport staff and first responders for real emergencies.
“We try to make it as realistic as something that might happen here at our airport with the numbers of passengers or a situation that would happen here. And so this aircraft came in, the landing gear collapsed, it went off of the runway and ended up in a kind of a congested area on the ramp. And that was our scenario to see how we would respond and how we would react to that.”
