Plane crash gets test run at Sea-Tac

For travelers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, it must have been an alarming first sight: a smoking fuselage surrounded by the flashing lights of ambulances and fire trucks with victims strewed along the runway.

A small Port of Seattle jet was down, fake smoke blew from the engines and 150 volunteers sported fake wounds — all part of a mock crash Wednesday to test the airport's emergency-response plan.

The drill took advantage of the new third runway, scheduled to open in November, and is mandated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) every three years. Wednesday was the first time in recent memory it was held on an actual runway; in the past, it was set up in employee-parking lots or open space to the side of runways.

Staging the exercise on a runway helps coordinate timing and allows rescuers to become more familiar with the airport, said Ed Campbell, Port of Seattle fire chief. "We don't get a chance often to get out on these surfaces," he said. "Whenever we have the chance, we seize it."

Avoiding panic was also a priority. Signs were posted for travelers inside the airport, and air-traffic controllers informed incoming planes.

After a mock emergency call came in at 9 a.m., Port of Seattle firefighters drove to the third runway, which is farthest from the terminal, and over the next three hours fire and EMT units from surrounding jurisdictions responded to help with the drill as they would in a real emergency. A hangar served as a hospital, where victims were taken by ambulance.

Many volunteer victims seemed to be enjoying their battered and comatose roles.

Each victim had a badge that showed vitals and injuries and each was assigned a story. Firefighters read each badge and prioritized who needed help first, then tagged them with a colored strip.

Jeff Taylor nodded toward his black-and-white striped tag. He was dead on the scene.

Still, the deceased Taylor was able to snap some pictures on his camera phone. He volunteered for the exercise through his job with the Transportation Security Administration and had participated in a similar drill when he was a child.

"If it was fun then, why not now?" he said. "Why not lay on the third runway and enjoy myself?"

The only down side was the being outside in the cool weather, Taylor said. As a dead man, he would be among the last to have an ambulance take him away.

But the seriousness of the drill was not completely lost.

While smoke still clouded the crash site, some volunteers, as was their assigned role in the exercise, played hysterical victims, screaming the names of loved ones and trying to pull firefighters from those they were assisting. Some yelled that they couldn't feel their legs. Others simply shouted for help.

Airport spokesman Perry Cooper said the scene can be eerie. "But it's all part of going through the rescue and seeing the things you're going to be dealing with."

The last accident at Sea-Tac was in 1997, when a twin-engine cargo plane flying from Portland crashed on the runway. The pilot survived.

The FAA doesn't set specific goals for the emergency drill, but at least 100 volunteers had to participate because of the airport's size. The exercise is designed to help airports look for ways to improve response plans.

Sea-Tac will present a report to the FAA after a few months, Cooper said. Officials started comparing notes Wednesday and will begin meetings next week on how to improve the airport's emergency plans, Campbell said. Other than some confusion over task assignments, everything went smoothly, Campbell said.

Sean Rose: 206-464-2292 or srose@seattletimes.com