Aircraft rescue: The case of KIA
It looks scary while in the air and many shy away from it although they wish to be at their destinations, particularly outside the country, faster, safe and sound.
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As a result, air travel both domestic and international is on the ascendency with the arrival of many airlines.
Air travel is considered the safest mode of transport by all standards when compared to any other form of transportation and with the taste for air travel rising, there is the need for measures to make the airports safer in all aspects.
It is against this background that the existence of a Rescue and Fire Fighting Service (RFFS) at airports is very relevant and necessary.
What does RFFS do
The basic functions of the RFFS, among others, are to safeguard human lives and property in the event of a fire outbreak at the airport; conduct fire safety inspections on airport installations and give recommendations to prevent fire outbreaks; carry out aircraft recovery operations of a disabled aircraft following a plane incident at the airside to pave way for normal commercial activities at the airport to resume and also; provide humanitarian services to the general public when the need arises.
The Ghana case
In Ghana, it is called the Rescue and Fire Fighting Service Training Centre (RFFSTC. It is located at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and been able to distinguish itself from the rest of similar ones found in the sub-region.
As a result, it has grown from taking care of the training needs of its staff to that of other institutions in Ghana and other countries in Central and Western Africa, thereby earning revenue for the company.
The training programmes have been designed to meet national and international needs and conform to International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) standard and recommended practices.
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RFFSTC training programmes
The RFFSTC provides training in the following areas: Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting; Fire protection and emergency management for both civil and military personnel; Industrial Fire Safety
Participants are given first- hand training experience in handling emergencies using advanced fire training simulators.
Class size is kept small to ensure personalised attention and safety at all times during the training.
The instructors are all practising firefighting and rescue professionals. For most of the training programmes, hands on, true-to-life simulated exercises make up over 70 per cent of the training.
A comprehensive range of fire simulators is designed to fully train and test firefighting and safety skills of participants.
The simulators are maintained at a dedicated fire training ground where participants undergo true-to-life simulated exercises involving undercarriage fires, internal cabin fires, aircraft engine fires, smoke-filled chambers, pressure-fed fuel fires, heat filled chambers and flash over fires. Participants are given first- hand training experience in handling emergencies using advanced fire training simulators.
Class size is kept small to ensure personalised attention and safety at all times during the training.
The instructors are all practising firefighting and rescue professionals. For most of the training programmes, hands on, true-to-life simulated exercises make up over 70 per cent of the training.
A comprehensive range of fire simulators is designed to fully train and test firefighting and safety skills of participants. The simulators are maintained at a dedicated fire training ground where participants undergo true-to-life simulated exercises involving undercarriage fires, internal cabin fires, aircraft engine fires, smoke-filled chambers, pressure-fed fuel fires, heat filled chambers and flash over fires.
Who are the targets
The training programmes are designed for personnel of Airport Authorities, Airline crew, Civil Defence Organisations, Aircraft Ground Engineers, National Fire Service, Petrochemical Industries, Hotels, Restaurants and Mining Industries.
From industries in Ghana, the centre has trained fire personnel from Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Volta River Authority (VRA), Tarkwa Gold Mines, Anglogold Ashanti, the Ghana Airforce among others.
It has also offered training to personnel from African countries such as Malawi, Sierra Leone, Benin, Liberia, Cote D’ivoire and presently has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with one of the biggest fire schools in Africa, ERSI in Douala, Cameroon. GACL recently signed an MOU with the Abidjan Airport Authority (AERIA) to provide aircraft recovery services in the event of any incident at Abidjan Airport.
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Aircraft recovery services at KIA
Since the acquisition of Aircraft Recovery Equipment at KIA, the aircraft recovery team of the Ghana Airport Company Limited - Rescue Fire Fighting Service (GACL - RFFS) has successfully conducted nine aircraft recovery operations of various aircraft types ranging from a Saab 340A to a Boeing 747-200 series, much to the admiration of the international community.
Some recovery cases
The GACL Aircraft Recovery Team experienced its first international assignment on June 6, 2004. At 11.00pm the team received a distress call from Benin International Airport. A Fokker 28 commercial aircraft, upon landing, skidded off due to the seizure of one of the rear undercarriages and blocked the only runway of the airport.
The Aircraft Recovery Team experienced a 10 hour traumatic journey which involved crossing two borders. This particular recovery operation saw the application of very innovative techniques in the utilisation of the aircraft recovery equipment by the team due to the soft nature of the terrain and the position of the aircraft. Within five hours the team successfully recovered the aircraft without any secondary damage and the airport was reopened.
Another successful and interesting operation carried out by the aircraft recovery team was on August 21, 2004 involving a Fokker 27 which belly landed on takeoff and blocked the only runway at KIA.
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One of the most challenging but successful aircraft recovery operations ever carried out by the team was one involving a Boeing 747-200 series Cargo aircraft which occurred on June 14 2007. The aircraft was unloading its contents when it tilted causing the lower tail cone to rest flat on the ground and the nose wheel of the aircraft hanging approximately 5m above the ground.
It took the team five and half hours to bring the nose wheel safely to the ground after mobilising and assembling the centralised air control module (CACM) 90 aircraft lifting airbags, 120 air hoses, five remote control consoles, five air distributors, 90 pressure relief valves and 90 topping valves.
The most recent successful recovery operation carried out by the aircraft recovery team was one involving a B737 VIP Aircraft at the KIA Airforce Base on July 1, 2007. The aircraft was bogged down when it veered off the taxiway. The RFFS recovery team went into action to recover the disabled aircraft but it was one operation that spanned two days due to the soft nature of the terrain and the inability to defuel the aircraft to make it lighter.