Mackay Port Authority Mackay Airport stages a simulated crash excercise Article first published on Friday, 12 September 2003 @ 3:50:16 PM

A simulated crash exercise at Mackay Airport involving emergency services has been hailed as a success.









The mock disaster, involving the runway crash of a passenger jet with 107 people on board, was held between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on September 10.

Police, SES, ambulance, fire and Mackay Port Authority personnel held an extensive debrief on Friday, September 12.









Airport manager Trevor Heard said Field Exercise Zero Five gave emergency services the opportunity to put their training to the test.

“A number of minor communications problems did arise, but that was the whole point of the exercise – to put these dedicated professionals under real life pressure,” Mr Heard said.

“Overall, everyone did an excellent job co-coordinating communications which resulted in a great result on the ground.”

Mr Heard said emergency plans for the airport would continue to be reviewed and updated throughout the year.

“The traveling public should be very pleased that they have good, committed emergency personnel on hand here in Mackay to react and attend to any incident that may happen, whether at the airport or on the road,” he said.