An Intro to HIA's Full-Scale, Emergency Excercise

This evening (9/18/2010) beginning at 8 pm, Harrisburg International Airport, along with local emergency responders, will be conducting an FAA required full-scale, emergency exercise. We expect that the exercise, held on the airport campus, to be wrapped up by 12 midnight. Local residents, guests and passengers at HIA will see lights and hear sirens during this time, as HIA and airline employees, along with the local responders simulate and respond to a staged emergency aircraft incident. Anyone seeing or hearing any part of the exercise should not be alarmed, this is ONLY an exercise!

Emergency Exercise FAQ

So what's the point of an airport conducting an emergency exercise?

The goal of the exercise is to enable airport and community fire, security, medical,and other resources to join in an effective, coordinated response to airport emergencies.

How often do you have to hold an emergency exercise?

The FAA requires the exercises to be conducted every 3 years.

What do you do at the emergency exercise?

In the months prior to the emergency exercise taking place a oversight team at the airport decides what type of emergency incident will be simulated/practiced at the exercise. The type of emergency being practiced is then planned for, and then simulated on the day of the exercise. Types of incidents that are practiced varies from year to year and from airport to airport.

Who participates in the emergency exercise?

Fire, police, dispatch, EMT, paramedic, airport personnel, airline personnel participate in the exercise, along with a number of their friends/family as volunteers.

What do the friends/family volunteers do at the exercise?

These volunteers will pretend to be "victims" of the type of emergency incident being practiced at the exercise. They are often dressed with make-up and paint called "moulage" to simulate different types of injuries that may/might be received in a real event.

How do you determine if the participating parties have learned what they are supposed to?

At the close of the exercise, the parties involved meet for a debriefing meeting wherein a group of people that had been selected to observe the exercise share their observations. All aspects of the exercise are discussed and performance rated. The goal of the exercise debriefing is to make sure all parties involved know what went well and what aspects needed improvement.

What other questions do you have? Post them as a comment and we'll be happy to answer them! The FAA provides a full airport exercise guide, feel free to take a look.

We will be covering the exercise with live social media coverage as it unfolds, so stayed tuned to Facebook and Twitter for live updates!

And tomorrow we will publish a post-exercise wrap up blog post!

Congressman Holden delivers $1.9 million to HIA

(Middletown, PA – June 15, 2009) Congressman Tim Holden, (PA-17) today presented the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority (SARAA) with a check in the amount of $1,946,585 from the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Airport Improvement Program for Environmental Mitigation and Rehabilitation of the Runway Lighting System at Harrisburg International Airport.

“As part of the Federal Government's continuing investment into key aspects of our nation’s transportation infrastructure, today I’m pleased to deliver to SARAA slightly more than $1.9 million to be used on two important airport projects—one environmental related, the other safety related,” said Holden.

“On behalf of SARAA, I’d like to thank Congressman Holden, the FAA and our entire Congressional delegation for their continued support of aviation improvement projects at HIA,” said Tim Edwards, Executive Director. “Thanks to today’s announcement, we’ll be able to complete one major project and begin another important one here at HIA.”

The majority of the grant money delivered today is for the final construction of the airports new Waste Water Treatment Facility. The facility, scheduled to become operational in September, will be one of the first in the region to be compliant with the new discharge limitations established by the Department of Environmental Protection and Pennsylvania’s Chesapeake Bay Strategy.

The remainder of the grant money will be used for a project to update and replace wiring, cabling and lighting along runway 13/31 at HIA.