First responders put their emergency skills to the test during a simulated plane crash at Launceston Airport.
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The three-hour exercise on Tuesday involved about 70 emergency workers from Tasmania Police, Aircraft Rescue and Rirefighting, and Ambulance Tasmania as well as more than 30 volunteers, including from the Australian Red Cross.
During the simulation, emergency crews were tasked with responding to a plane that had crashed with 15 people onboard.
The first responders had to work with test dummies that represented both injured, and deceased passengers.
The large-scale exercise was conducted at the airport every two years, and was a requirement under the Civil Aviation Safety Regulation and the Launceston Airport Emergency Plan.
Tasmania Police Inspector Scott Flude said while officers always hoped an emergency of this kind would never eventuate, it was something they needed to be prepared for.
He said it was also timely with people transiting through the airport again after the coronavirus pandemic.
"It is good to keep everyone familiar with the airport, and its protocols," he said.
"There is a lot of new personnel at the airport, as well as new police recruits so it is a good opportunity for them to build on the relationships between the different organisations that come together to facilitate the safe management of an emergency."
Inspector Flude said the exercise went well overall, but each agency would still need to debrief and identify any areas of improvement.
Launceston Airport chairman Hugh McKenzie said the purpose of the airport's planned emergency exercise was also to evaluate how well both airport management and stakeholders could respond to a real-life crisis.
"Safety is our number one priority and as passenger numbers increase it is absolutely vital that we remain alert and prepared for an emergency situation," Mr McKenzie said.
"There were about 100 people involved providing us with solid learnings around inter-agency communication, passenger processing and stakeholder management and we're really grateful that so many people offered up their time to get such a large-scale test underway."
The airport's passenger figures were now back to about 74 per cent of pre-COVID levels.
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