Mass-Casualty Plane Crash Simulated at Ben Gurion Airport

Ben Gurion Airport (TPS) – A drill simulating a mass-casualty plane crash was held on Tuesday afternoon at Israel’s international Ben Gurion Airport. The drill came at the end of seven months of preparation by many Israeli aviation and rescue organizations.

The drill, code-named “Maglan 2016”, simulated the implementation of an airport emergency plan in the case of a mass casualty event. The Israel Airports Authority, Transportation Ministry, Fire and Rescue Services, Magen David Adom (MDA), and the IDF Home Front Command all took part.

In the simulated nightmare scenario, an airliner with 178 people onboard takes off from Ben Gurion Airport to Amsterdam. During takeoff a tire is detached from the plane and the plane turns back for an emergency landing at Ben Gurion Airport. While attempting to land, however, landing gear disconnects from the plane and the plane crashes. The drill also simulated the evacuation by helicopter of the wounded passengers.

For the first time, the drill was open to as many as 400 spectators and professional security observers in order to provide them with world-class knowledge on dealing with aviation-related disasters.

“Ben Gurion Airport operates in high alert and preparedness level,” said Israel’s Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz during the drill. “The airport is heading towards its most busy summer season it has ever seen in terms of number of passengers, and the drill concludes our preparation.”