Wright-Patterson, community practice for major aircraft crash Published June 9, 2006 By Joel Fortner 88th Air Base Wing Public Affairs SPRINGFIELD, Ohio -- Approximately two months after a C-5 crashed at Dover Air Force Base, Del., in which all 17 people aboard survived, base officials partnered with local organizations here in a C-5 aircraft crash exercise June 8 in case one goes down locally. Making the training more applicable, the 445th Airlift Wing here received its first C-5 from Dover Air Force Base Oct. 3. The wing is slated to receive 11 C-5s in all. “We haven’t practiced for a major off-base crash in a long time,” said Lt. Col. Ronald Deak, base chief of readiness. “During this exercise, we tested our ability to respond, keep the public safe and informed, and tested how well base and community responders work together.” While bringing the largest aircraft in the Defense Department and one of the largest in the world to the exercise site was impossible, buses, a piece of an aircraft fuselage, a wing and a trailer were used to simulate a burning, severed C-5. “While we’re not practicing on an actual C-5,” Colonel Deak said, “this exercise is still very valuable because it allows us to test teamwork, response, victim recovery and rescue, treatment of dead and injured, communications, search and rescue, and much more.”