By Sadique Bamwita
ENTEBBE
The Management of Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), on Friday afternoon, 14th June, 2024 carried out one of the mandatory partial emergency exercises at Entebbe International airport to test its level of readiness when responding to emergencies like an aircraft accident.
The two-hour exercise commenced at 11am and involved a simulation of a compact Air flight with 100 passengers and some crew members on board.
During the exercise it was presumed that flight lost power shortly after taking off and crashed near to the runway 12 thresholds and one of its engines caught fire. It is assumed following the nasty incident, 25 people lost lives while 15 were critically injured hence triggering off emergency responses from Airport fire fighters and other rescue agencies such as UPDF and Uganda Red cross society etcetera.
The Director Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA), Fred Bamwesigye says the partial mock exercise enabled the authority to know its strength and weakness in regard to responding to emergency situations like plane accidents.
“We did this because crashes usually happen at landing or taking off. It really helped us to test our ongoing emergency response programs. It was a successful mock exercise, “Mr. Bamwesigye revealed.
In his debrief, Mr. Fred Bamwesigye said all international airports must carry out similar mock exercises as one of the mandatory requirements for countries that subscribe to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
“As we comply with the set aviation standards , Ugandans should have confidence in the aviation sector. We work harder to see that compliance continues and where we make small mistakes we sit as a team and discuss the way forward. We assure air travelers of complete safety at the airport. The reports we make after such exercises act as evidence on compliance with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Such reports also provide us with areas of improvement.
‘In case of investigating an aircraft accident at Entebbe International Airport, it’s the ministry of Works and Transport through its department of Accident, incident and investigations to investigate real accidents or incidents. The report takes time because the investigator is supposed to find out the manufacturer of the aircraft and give a concrete report,” Mr. Bamwesigye added.
Mr. Bamwesigye revealed that there is a positive increase in the number of passengers and cargo at Entebbe International Airport.
“There is a positive surge of passenger numbers and cargo at Entebbe International Airport for example in May 2024, the airport registered 92,298 arrivals and 89,036 departures totaling 181,334 international passengers. We must move in tandem and let’s keep our eyes on the development of the airport facilities and keep compliance with set standards, “Mr. Bamwesigye revealed.
The General Manager Entebbe International Airport, Col. Emmanuel Balungi, noted that emergency exercises help to fill gaps that may occur when responding to emergencies. He however revealed that in this concluded emergency exercise, there was delay in communication hence ambulances were informed late and responded late.
Meanwhile, the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) last held a partial mandatory emergency exercise in December 2020 while a full scale emergency exercise was last held on November 4th 2022.
