Atlanta FD receives training on aviary safety

On Saturday, March 30, President of the Airport Advisory Board Mike Lee, held a training meeting with the Atlanta Fire Chief, Ricky Draper and his team from the Atlanta Fire Department. Mike Lee served in the Navy for 20 years.

The Training was held at the Atlanta Municipal Airport which covered aviary safety and common problems they may face while responding to aircraft incidents.

Many airports have fire crews on site or nearby. Fire departments need to be trained adequately for effective response to incidents.

The training’s purpose was to equip Atlanta Firefighters with the basic knowledge of radio communications in response to aircraft incidents, aircraft fuel systems for manual shutdown of the aircraft, and where fuel travels within the aircraft. Radio communications are not required at Atlanta Airport, which can cause problems.

Planes are not required to radio into the airport as of now, which has the potential to cause aircraft incidents. Mike Lee pointed out that the grass strip is shut down and people are still using it.

At one point they had trespassers make their way onto the runway for drag-racing. The FAA fines trespassers $10,000. Only personnel are allowed on the runway.

Firefighters were also briefed on how to respond to runway incidents and Mike Lee discussed landing safety, “I’d say about 95% of aircraft incidents occur during landing, and this is usually due to aircraft running out of fuel after excessive headwinds.”

The community can look forward to an annual fly-in on October 12, 2024. Community planes are welcome to fly in and there will be planes on display as well as an educational experience in aviation.

Helicopter rides are a popular attraction for this event as well as the barbecue. The community event will be held at the Atlanta Municipal Airport.