Mock crash tests emergency response

Local emergency response teams prepared for a worst-case scenario during a simulated airplane crash near the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport this morning.

Airport authority President and Chief Executive Officer Mike Landguth said the full-scale simulation, required every three years by the Federal Aviation Administration, prepares response teams for a worst-case scenario. The simulation is also a test of the communication among various agencies.

“Essentially what it allows the personnel to do is actually implement our emergency plan and all the training that we’ve gone through through the years to make sure we can respond in case there’s an actual accident at the Chattanooga Airport,” he said.

Timing the response with the actual takeoff of an Allegiant flight, the Chattanooga Fire Department, Chattanooga Police Department, airport police, Hamilton County EMS and Hamilton County Rescue Squad responded to the scene and found that a large plane smashed through a fence during takeoff, scattering debris, a large piece of the fuselage — represented by a school bus — and 146 passengers.

See tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press for full coverage.