Hugh Baird College Travel and the Visitor Economy students this week took part in a large scale live training exercise at Liverpool John Lennon Airport.
Around 8 firefighters, 3 fire engines and specialist vehicles from Liverpool John Lennon Airport Rescue & Firefighting Service (LLJA RFFS) worked alongside senior management at the airport, Merseyside Police, Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, Merseyside Police, NWAS, Liverpool City Council, airline staff, press reporters and other agencies to deal with a realistic major incident.
Exercise Revolution was coordinated by LLJA RFFS and was based the scenario of a Mersey-Air Airbus 320 crash landing at the airport and coming to rest on the runway with 124 passengers on board.
The exercise saw crews use the latest technology and equipment to free those trapped in the aircraft. Numerous passengers were evacuated and were directed to a place of safety, triage or on to hospital depending on their injuries.
The students, who are studying on courses that will enable them to take up a range of careers both as ground staff within airports and as part of cabin crew, took up roles as passengers and friends and family of those involved in the incident.
Dave Taggart, Watch Manager at Liverpool John Lennon Airport Rescue & Firefighting Service, said:
“Live exercises provide so many benefits and opportunities for the wide range of services, agencies and departments to test the application of plans and deployment of resources in a fully monitored manner.”
“Thankfully, for the majority of us a live exercise of this type is the only exposure we may ever have to anything like a real incident. “Live exercises provides an opportunity to learn from each other, identify both strengths – and where improvements may be implemented – in what we all do, record findings and to improve our processes and procedures.”
“I would like to thank the Hugh Baird College students for taking part and hope taking part will be beneficial for their future career paths.”
Andrea Currie, Hugh Baird College Travel and the Visitor Economy Curriculum Coordinator, said:
“I would like to thank Dave and the team at Liverpool John Lennon Airport Rescue & Firefighting Service and the senior management at Liverpool John Lennon Airport for giving our students this amazing opportunity.”
“Everything we do on our courses revolves around getting the students ready to enter the jobs market in their chosen field. This is just another example of the added value activities we strive to provide our students with.”
Hugh Baird College Travel and the Visitor Economy student, Abbie Scott, from Norris Green said:
“Taking part in the live exercise at the airport was a real eye opener. It was interesting to see how the different agencies work together in order to save lives.”
“In the future, I hope to be part of cabin crew on a major airline. I hope that I am never involved in a real incident, but if I am, then thanks to taking part in the event today it won’t be a complete shock to the system.”
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