In this module, you will be responding as the ATC lead and the ARFF
Commander at Los Rodeos Airport (now Tenerife North Airport) on the
Spanish Island of Tenerife. Please watch the following video, view the
background information, view the airport diagram, and respond to the provided questions/tasks.
Background Information:
The airport is on a small island airport with limited ramp space.
The neighboring island airport was a target of a terrorist bombing, and so Los Rodeos is receiving diverted aircraft.
The ramp is over-saturated with aircraft with many aircraft unable to depart due to cramped conditions.
Several aircraft have requested refueling—specifically two 747s: PanAm Flight PA1736 and KLM Flight KL4805.
The tower personnel are distracted by the threat of them being bombed.
The tower personnel are overwhelmed by the level of traffic coming
to the airport, and they are having difficulty communicating with the
airline crews because English isn’t their native language.
Many of the airliners want to depart as soon as possible and are requesting their ATC departure clearance.
Heavy fog is rolling into the airport, and visibility is down from
300 meters with winds at 12 kts to 100 meters and calm winds.
The runway centerline lighting is inoperative.
The departure runway is 30 but the parked traffic requires all aircraft to enter the runway at 12 then back taxi to 30.
You only have two controllers in the tower.
Although you have three radio frequencies (121.7, 118.7, and
119.7),118.7 is being used for ground taxi instructions, and 119.7 is
being used for takeoff and approach control.
Scenario
Task 1: Two 747s want to depart ASAP. The taxiway is
blocked at C-1 and C-2. There are only 15 words in English that you
know. Using only those 15 words, perform the following task. As the ATC
Tower Lead, what instructions would you provide to the two 747s to help
expedite an immediate departure? Note they both want to take off before
the weather gets any worse.
Task 2: The two 747s are taxiing, but the fog is
thicker, with the visibility down to 100 meters. From the tower, you
can’t see any aircraft on the ramp, taxiway, or runway. All
communications are via radio only. As ATC Tower Lead, you hear an
explosion on the ramp but can’t tell where it came from. How would you
direct ARFF (still with your limited vocabulary)?
Task 3: You are the ARFF Captain, and you get a crash call from the tower:
Tower Call: “Crash one,
we heard an explosion. We don’t see where it is, and we can’t identify
what it was. It could have been a terrorist bomb. It sounded like it was
on the apron.”
One of the parked aircraft on the ramp called to report a fire in the
fog, but the specific location unknown. How do you respond to this
call?
Task 4: View the following video, The Crash of the Century (YouTube/14:49) (Links to an external site.), and describe how the ARFF handled the accident keeping in mind how they supported the survivors.
