Dozens of emergency personnel will converge on Hancock International Airport in Syracuse Saturday as part of a large-scale emergency drill where airport officials will simulate the crash landing of a plane.
Firefighters will try to stamp out propane-induced flames on a fake airplane fuselage on one of the airport's unused runways.
“The large platform is on ground, the whole fuselage will be set on fire, said Airport Authority Director Jason Terreri. “So you’ll see a full airport fire rescue response. So it’s three full vehicles responding, they have metrics, they have to get here in a certain amount of time and put out the fire.
Terreri said federal officials require a drill like this once every three years.
"The full scale is done every three years. We have to do what’s called a table top in a meeting room simulation of an accident every year. And this is evaluated by the FAA and we have metrics we have to hit so we stay in compliance with the FAA,” he said.
Several volunteer fire departments in the vicinity of the airport are among the emergency responders, as well as the Red Cross to simulate what would happen if a plane crashed at the airport.
