CAA carries out mock drill to test response system at Entebbe airport

A mock drill by the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) involving simulation of an aircraft that has veered off the runway and caught fire was on Friday carried out to test the efficacy of different agencies while responding to emergency situation at Entebbe International Airport.

All agencies connected with the airport including UCAA, various hospitals, Uganda Airlines, Port Health, Uganda People’s Defence Air Force, MONUSCO, Aviation Police, national security agencies, St. John Ambulances, Police Air wing representatives from different airlines, ground handling agents and volunteers participated in the drill.

At exactly 11:15am, the mock drill commenced when a TIDA Airlines aircraft with 250 passengers on board veered off the runaway as it landed and caught fire.

A total of 30 passengers died and 40 others were critically injured before being rushed to nearby hospitals in Entebbe and Kampala.

According to the UCAA Director General, Fred Bamwesigye, the drill that lasted one hour and 45 minutes was a successful one.

“The exercise, which has been successfully concluded, is a mandatory requirement for international airports of countries that are contracting member States of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),” Bamwesigye said.

“The exercise helped us test the emergency plans and procedures; communication frameworks, response times and coordination abilities from the participants.”

The UCAA last carried out such full scale mock drill in 2019 and that time, they simulated a situation of plan hijack by terrorists and hostage taking.

According to the UCAA Director General, they keep on changing the drills to be able to prepare themselves for any eventualities at the airport.

“We are aware we are not enough to handle these emergencies and it is the reason we test ourselves so that we are able to see our response time of all the concerned stakeholders. All these situations that we simulate including veering off the runway and catching fire as well as hijacks  happen at various airports and can happen here. Aviation practice is that these emergency practices take place to make sure we test our capabilities all the time and in case they happen, we can ably handle them.”

According to the UCAA boss, following the mock drills, they will meet will all participating agencies for a debrief to review what could not have gone well in a bid to improve.

Traffic at Entebbe

Bamwesigye said there has been an increase in passenger and cargo traffic handled by Entebbe Airport since the reopening of the country after the Covid lockdown.

“Entebbe Airport facilitated 63,997 arrivals and 80,112 departures, a total of 144,089 international passengers in September 2022, which is an average of 4,802 passengers per day. In relation to cargo, imports were 1,620 metric tons and exports were 3,211 metric tons in September 2022,” Bamwesigye said.

He said that in August, the airport averaged 5034 international passengers per day, 4,892 in July, 4,508 in June, 4,018 in May and 3,670 per day in April.

“A comparison of the quarter from July to September 2022 with that of July to September 2019 prior to outbreak of COVID 19 shows that there is tremendous recovery.”