One man stumbles across the runway, disoriented. He touches his shaved head; it is shining with blood. A pregnant woman reclines on the grass and wishes for help to come soon. Children lay unconscious and severely injured.
All of these situations would have made Willard Airport a grave place on Monday night, if they were real.
Several local emergency services collaborated to help Willard Airport stage a required mass casualty drill. Drills of this magnitude are required every three years by the Federal Aviation Administration. Willard’s largest commercial flight carries approximately 50 passengers, which is large enough by FAA standards to require the drill.
Willard fire marshall John Riegel said emergency units are dispatched through the Metropolitan Computer-Aided Dispatch center for the drill as they would be during a real situation. The first priority in a drill is to evaluate injuries and take care of patients.
To simulate a crash scene, a small fire is ignited and volunteers are scattered on the runway. The fire portion of the drill gives Willard, Champaign and volunteer firefighters from 10 other districts practice in extinguishing flames.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Riegel said there are not enough planes available for use in drills, but that they did use several broken parts from planes to make the drill feel more real.
“It wouldn’t be the same as the plane we are simulating, but it would help show what a potential crash would look like,” he said.
Along with several Willard employees, volunteers from the community prepared for and acted in the drill as hurt victims in a plane crash.
Many of the volunteer victims came from the Champaign County Emergency Management Agency search-and-rescue volunteer group.
“I think it’s a worthy cause, and it’s good practice,” said Kitty Schlueter, a member of Champaign County search-and-rescue. Schlueter and her husband, Mike, volunteered to be victims in the drill.
Riegel said volunteer hours make the drill possible. A group of Boy Scouts, several University students and other community members volunteered by putting make-up on victims to make them look injured.
The University’s Illini Emergency Medical Services volunteered the make-up for the drill.
Even though there was enough death and injury to go around Monday night, volunteers still had fun in the situation.
“Let’s go out to dinner looking like this,” Cole Goldenberg, instructor in Aviation, said after receiving his “injuries” via make-up.
Janelle can be reached at [email protected].
