Page 3 - French and Electric Blue November 2015

Operation Ready
Interoperability, Unified Command Stressed at Aircraft Crash Training Exercise at Logan
On Friday, October 2, the Massachusetts Port Authority conducted
a full-scale multi-agency exercise at Logan International Airport
simulating an aircraft crash during landing with mass casualties
and fatalities. The objective of Operation Ready was to test existing
response protocols, policies and interoperability with other
responding agencies. The scenario replicated an actual crash – the
July 2013 Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash at the San Francisco
Airport. For last month’s exercise at Logan, Japan Airlines provided
a Boeing 787 aircraft and more than 200 volunteers played the roles
of passengers, flight attendants, and pilots.
State Police stations and units that participated in the exercise
were Troop F, Troop E, the Marine Unit, the Air Wing, the Crime
Scene Services Section, and the Collision Analysis Reconstruction
Section. Other agencies involved included Massport Fire and
Rescue, Boston Fire, Cambridge Fire, Boston Emergency Medical
Services, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the Department
of Public Health, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Customs and
Border Protection, the Transportation Security Administration,
the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, and several
ambulance companies.
The drill included a response phase, investigatory phase and
activation of the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) located in
the State Police Barracks at Logan Airport.
The response phase involved “victims” being rescued, triaged at the
scene, and transported to area hospitals. Troop F was responsible
for the traffic flow onto the airfield, staging area management,
assisting Massport Operations with escorts to the crash site from
the staging area, and security at the scene of the crash. Troop E
was notified and requested to initiate (in a simulation) its mass
casualty incident traffic plan for Logan Airport, which includes
working with MassDOT to facilitate the orderly flow of traffic to
and from the airport. Boston Police Area A-7 was notified and was
able to communicate directly with Troop F through patched radio
channels in order to assist, as needed, with traffic management.
The investigatory phase was conducted by the FBI,
National Transportation Safety Board, MSP, and
the OCME. That phase focused on scene mapping,
securing and cataloging the debris field, and processing
remains and personal effects. The State Police role in
this phase was to assist the FBI/NTSB in mapping out
the entire scene. State Police Lieutenant Andrew Klane
and his staff from CARS were instrumental in assisting
these federal agencies. State Police Detective Lieutenant
Robin Fabry from Crime Scene Services and her staff
provided assistance with photographs and crime scene
preservation as needed and upon request from the
federal agencies. The multi-agency investigation team
conducted a small group workshop led by Eric Grosof
of the NTSB and Special Agent Tim Darling of the FBI.
The workshop focused on developing a pre-plan for
a large scale incident response. Grosof ’s experience
with numerous real world transportation accident
investigations was instrumental to the discussions.
The activated Emergency Operations Center was managed by State
Police Sergeant David Noonan to provide external coordination
and support to the on-scene unified command. The passenger
manifest, a key document in aviation incidents, was provided to
the EOC so patient tracking teams could coordinate with area
hospitals and the family assistance center in order to locate and
account for all passengers. The EOC was able to send and monitor
various video streams including the video downlink of the exercise
from the State Police Air Wing to Japan Airlines (JAL) Corporate
Operations Center located in Tokyo, Japan so JAL executives
could view the exercise in real time. On scene JAL managers also
established communications with the parent company from the
EOC.
Overall, the triennial exercise was successful in testing existing
protocols and also learning where there are areas for improvement.
A hot wash was conducted immediately following the exercise and