Minot prepares for Northern Neighbors Day 2016 Air Show

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Christian Sullivan
  • Minot Air Force Base Public Affairs

A lot goes into preparing for an air show and often times much of that prepping can be getting ready for the worst, the just in case, and how to deal with it if that adversity comes.

 

Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota participated in a major accident response exercise with the purpose of emergency prevention and preparation if something was to happen during an air show.

 

“We’re going to be conducting an on-base aircraft mishap with mass casualties,” Rodney Onstott, 5th Civil Engineer Squadron flight chief of readiness and emergency management flight, said. “It’s a requirement to have this exercise within 30 days of the air show.”

 

The exercise involved all base personnel so their real-time response skills can be tested.

 

“This is a base-level exercise, so you’re going to have participation from your first and emergency responders,” Onstott said. “There’s also going to be participants from wing safety, air field management, public affairs and multiple agencies across the base.”

 

The point of the exercise is to prepare the base if something were to occur during the Northern Neighbors Day Air Show.

 

“We’re going to simulate, based on the aircraft that are going to attend, what could be our greatest potential for an aircraft accident,” Onstott said. “We’re going to use the fire department trainer and we’re going to simulate our helicopter accident and we’re going to simulate about 40 simulated injured personnel.”

 

In addition to preparing for Northern Neighbors Day, exercises like these maintain mission readiness for base first responders as well as all personnel. If a mass casualty accident did ever occur, the hands-on practice would benefit everyone involved.

 

“We want to ensure that our emergency responders are capable of handling any event that might happen during an air show as well as something that could happen day-to-day,” Onstott said. “That’s why we practice this, to get all of that as a unit, all working for the same goal.”