Polynesian Airlines conducts emergency drill

27 July 2017, 12:00AM

Polynesian Airlines conducted its Emergency Response Drill for Fagali’i Airport on Tuesday morning.

Polynesian Airlines’ Chief Executive Officer, Seiuli Tupuivao Alvin Tuala, said the drill was extremely important. 

“The whole purpose of this exercise is to gauge the readiness and preparedness of our own staff and those working at Fagali’i Airport and key government agencies to respond to an emergency incident that places the lives of people at risk at Fagali’i Airport,” he said. 

“The drill allows us as an Airport Operator to continuously review and improve on our existing procedures and processes to ensure the respondents and support services are properly coordinated to minimize any potential loss of lives or damage to properties when an emergency incident happens inside our airport premises.”

The emergency response drill involved the simulation of an aircraft coming in to land at Fagali’i Airport’s runway 10 at 9.45am and burst one of its tyres on landing resulting in the aircraft veering off the runway and hitting a perimeter fence causing one of the engines to catch fire on impact.

The lead assessor for the Emergency Response Drill was Nanai Junior Sa’aga, Assistant C.E.O. for the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure. 

“My role is to assess the overall execution of Polynesian Airlines’ Airport Emergency Plan as documented in their Manual, Part 139 as they are the operator of Fagali’i Airport,” Nanai explained.

Other assessors included the Police Commissioner, Su’a Fuiavailili Egon Keil, the C.E.O. for Red Cross, Namulauulu Tautala Mauala and Assistant C.E.O. for F.E.S.A, Tanuvasa Petone Mauga, who all assisted in assessing the coordination of the responses from the Fire and Emergency Services, National Health Services, Police and Red Cross.

“We are extremely grateful to all the government agencies from the Police Officers, F.E.S.A. Officers, Medical Doctors and Nurses from the National Health Services and Ministry of Health, staff from M.W.T.I. and Red Cross who participated in the exercise and for making themselves available from their busy schedules to assess and share their expertise and knowledge on how we can improve our procedures and processes in order to respond effectively to emergency incidents. 

“We are also grateful for the assistance and support provided by the Village of Fagali’i, especially their mayor, Samau Lokeni Ieru, the untitled men of Fagali’i and the taxi drivers from Fagali’i Airport Taxi Stand, employees of government agencies and other businesses working at Fagali’i Airport and most importantly to our valued customers for their understanding and patience with the slight delays to their flights while Fagali’i Airport was closed for aircraft operations during the exercise.”

27 July 2017, 12:00AM
Samoa Observer

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