Mangaluru: Mangaluru International Airport (MIA) under the aegis of Dakshina Kannada District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) conducted Mangalam 2023, the annual scheduled mock full-scale simulated aerodrome emergency exercise (FSAEE) at the airport on August 25. This full-scale, simulated exercise is in accordance with the guidelines given by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation and as per the specific recommendation of Ministry of Civil Aviation.
The hour-long exercise that ended at 12:56 pm revolved around a pre-defined specific scenario that the airport decided and was executed accordingly. The exercise involved collaborative action by various stakeholders involved with the airport operation and they responded as per the roles and responsibilities given to them. The airport had last conducted the exercise in the early hours of November 11, 2022. MoCA mandates airports to hold the exercise every second year.
The objective of Mangalam, as the annual exercise is now named, is to strengthen and validate the efficiency and efficacy of the airport operator and stakeholders to deal with an actual emergency. The exercise also strove to strengthen and validate the process set up in the aerodrome emergency response plan. It tested the role of the airline and evaluated if procedures followed by stakeholders is benchmarked to industry standards to handle an emergency systematically.
Domain experts from DDMA and the aviation sector, who donned the role of observers recorded the reaction and response of various stakeholders to the created emergency scenario. The airport recorded these critical observations in the debriefing meeting with an assurance to meet the same. The observers appreciated the airport for its initiative to plan different emergency scenarios for the exercise, which will give stakeholders confidence to tackle any situation.
The airport conducted Mangalam 2023 keeping in mind the safety, security, and passenger well-being, by slotting it during a lean period in the airport operations. These statutory drills are in line continuous efforts by the airport to deal with emergency situations in real time basis.
