Emergency Drill at Memmingen Airport with 80 Responders
The scenario: An airplane veers off the runway. The objective: To rescue the passengers as quickly as possible. The result: The large-scale emergency drill at Memmingen Airport achieved all of its objectives last Saturday.

When an aircraft crashes at the airport, speed is of the essence. Within minutes, the airport fire department arrived on the scene with its high-horsepower vehicles. Shortly thereafter, volunteer fire departments from Ungerhausen, Holzgünz, Memmingerberg, and Benningen arrived, along with the THW Memmingen and several emergency medical services. “The cooperation among all parties involved worked very well,” summarizes Stefan Hauber, the airport’s Safety & Security Manager who was in charge of the drill. The newly introduced digital radio system was successfully tested among the approximately 80 emergency responders. “Every drill provides insights,” says Hauber, “that contribute to further optimizing our emergency planning.” This includes training and coordinating the responders’ operations and procedures. In particular, the collaboration with the volunteer fire departments from neighboring communities and the aid organizations went exceptionally well. As airport Managing Director Marcel Schütz also emphasized, the volunteers are “an indispensable part of the rescue chain.” Flight operations on Saturday were not affected by the drill, which must take place at regular intervals and is attended by numerous official observers.