Simulated B-1B crash starts Edwards ORE

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Eric M. Grill
  • 95th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  The circumstances are very possible -- an Edwards B-1B Lancer crashes while attempting an emergency landing.

While this is a viable scenario for the Air Force Flight Test Center Inspector General to test the base's response, Sunday's early-morning Operational Readiness Exercise kick-off had a little twist -- the crash site was at Mojave's Spaceport north of the base and involved local emergency responders as well.

The objective of the joint, off-base exercise was to test the communication relationship between base agencies and the local responders, said Col. George Sciss, AFFTC Inspector General.

"In most scenarios, when a military aircraft goes down off base, local emergency responders, such as police, sheriffs and the fire department, will be the initial responders. They are the ones who feed information back to the base," Colonel Sciss said. "It's important we have good communication lines in place so leadership on the base can effectively evaluate the scene and dedicate the proper resources to respond to the incident."

One of the goals of the off-base scenario was to evaluate Edwards responders when they take over the crash site and assist local responders in the transition, said Pierre Poudevigne, Air Force Flight Test Center senior exercise planner.

"We're able to validate our emergency response checklists that base leadership uses to direct the proper resources to the exact area they need to go," Mr. Poudevigne said. "When taking over a crash site, it's a large operation and we need to consider legal ramifications, the fire department, security forces, services, contracting as well as other base agencies."

In all, about 200 local and base officials took part in the exercise, including members of the Civil Air Patrol, who portrayed injured civilians, as well as representatives from the Kern County Fire Department; Kern County Sheriff's office; Mojave Airport District and Paul's Ambulance Service, Colonel Sciss said

"The communication flow was nearly flawless and the local responders did a great job of keeping the lines of communication open between all agencies involved," Mr. Poudevigne said.

The cooperation was so good, Colonel Sciss said, the local agencies asked to be involved in future exercises.

"When you get that kind of cooperation between all agencies like this, it helps tremendously when and if the real thing is to happen," Colonel Sciss said. "We're looking forward to doing another joint exercise like this in the future. After all, it could be the difference in saving lives."