Last Friday, Graz Airport carried out an extensive emergency exercise under the project title "Alpha 8". This simulated a plane crash. A total of around 350 people took part.

Last Friday, at around 15:00 p.m., Graz Airport received a message as part of the "Alpha 8" exercise that it will hopefully not receive again any time soon: "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. An aircraft is in an emergency and will land in about 20 minutes.” This was followed by the largest emergency exercise in years.

"The emergency exercise "Alpha 8" was particularly important after more than 2 years of pandemic and the associated restriction of personal communication," informs Wolfgang Grimus, Managing Director of Graz Airport. "In the coming weeks we will devote ourselves to working through this together with everyone involved in order to track down even the smallest problems - because that is exactly what makes an exercise successful."

“It was an interesting experience for me. I would like to thank the emergency services and everyone involved for their professional and competent approach, as well as those responsible at the airport for preparing and conducting this exercise. The next step will be a review of the exercise. The knowledge gained from this will help to be even better prepared for any emergencies in the future," explains Andreas Weitlaner, District Governor of the Graz-Surroundings District Authority.

exercise acceptance:

The flight from Graz to Frankfurt, operated by the fictional Sansiva Airways, can take off punctually at 14:40 p.m. in the direction of Frankfurt. The flight time from Graz to Frankfurt is about 80 minutes. After a flight time of around 20 minutes, the pilot in charge reported "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday" to Graz air traffic control at 15:00 p.m., a probable defect in the braking system and slight smoke development in the aircraft and announced a return landing to Graz. The aircraft lands from the north at 39:4 with 15 passengers and 20 crew members on board. Due to a very high approach angle, the aircraft only touches down on the runway shortly before the Bravo taxiway. The left main landing gear collapses. The aircraft turned east, skidded down the grass runway OST and came to a burning stop south of the GAC hangar.