Blue Grass Airport tests emergency response through simulated plane crash exercise

LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX NEWS) — Blue Grass Airport conducted a full-scale emergency training exercise Wednesday in compliance with Federal Aviation Administration requirements.

The exercise, which the FAA requires once every three years, brought together more than 20 emergency agencies to simulate a regional jet colliding with a helicopter.

"It's certainly a big undertaking," said Community Relations Manager Lauren Simmerman.

Operations teams worked to ensure medical teams and volunteers were in place to play the role of passengers during the simulation. Volunteers from the community participated as victims in the incident.

"We've got about 300 volunteers from the community which includes just volunteers that wanted to come out and act as victims of the incident," Simmerman said.

A Moulage team was responsible for making the simulation as realistic as possible.

"We built the prosthetics and makeup to simulate all the injuries," Allison Givan said.

Givan, part of the Moulage team, also addressed the collaboration among airport and emergency response agencies from multiple counties involved in the exercise.

"It's really kind of comforting just as a member of our community to know that they hold exercises like these," Givan said.

Simmerman said the exercise reflects the airport's core values.

"Safety is always our top priority," Simmerman said.

Simmerman added that in addition to today's simulation, the airport annually hosts a tabletop exercise "which is a lot of these same agencies and partners in one room talking through these incidents."

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