Regional Express passengers arriving at Parkes Regional Airport were recently met with the full suite of emergency service personnel busy with a training exercise.
Forty members of the Parkes Shire Emergency Services were on deck at the airport terminal building for ‘Dusty”. The drill examined the emergency response procedures, their application and asset recovery operations relating to an incident occurring at the airport.
Members of the NSW Police Service, Fire & Rescue NSW, Rural Fire Service, Parkes SES Unit, Ambulance, the Regional Emer- gency Management Officer and Parkes Shire Council’s Airport staff worked together in the mock crash simulation, to effectively respond to and manage the situation.
With the valuable assistance from Parkes Aero Club member, Wade McConnell, the exercise was a simulation of a crop dusting plane loaded with chemicals, which had sustained damage causing the chemicals to leak. After lifting off, wind sheer affected the operation of the plane and it crashed in the vicinity of the runway. The pilot was injured within the plane and required extraction. The participants had to secure the site, command, control and co-ordinate the situ- ation, manage the weather conditions, contain the hazardous chemicals, and treat the casualty.