TRAVERSE CITY -- Something happened this morning at Cherry Capitol Airport in Traverse City that hasn't happened in three years.
Stephen Cassens, Cherry Capitol Airport Director said, "there will be a suspected bomb on board and as they are de-planning the passengers, to get them off the aircraft, the bomb will explode."
No, its not the newest blockbuster in the works for Summer 2011, its the scenario planned for the full scale disaster drill that took place at Cherry Capitol Airport this morning.
Cassens said, "its going be a great exercise because not only does it test the airport emergency plan and how it works and the communication of that, but it also tests the skills of the people who are doing the rescue work."
Emergency responders and Munson Medical Center were also on the scene participating in the drill.
Traverse City Fire Department Captain, Marco Marcantoni said, "we get the patients out and we take them to a treatment area where there'll be local ambulance services all congregated and they do their treatment and then they set up transport systems to take them to munson hospital. So everybody's got their specific role."
Overall, officials were pleased with performance.
Marcantoni said, "in 30 minutes we had everybody out of the aircraft."
Cassens said, "we have safety officers and then we also have observers and as we go through to emergency, we observe different things that happen and how people respond but then at the end, we also do a de-brief and so we'll be able to talk among all the emergency services and then look for where there's deficiencies.">
The drill is conducted every three years and it is a vital tool for keeping patrons safe.
