Posted at: 09/27/2012 5:47 PM
Updated at: 09/27/2012 7:06 PM
By: Gordon Severson

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Mock Plane Crash Offers Unique Training in Rochester

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Some tense moments out at the Rochester International Airport on Thursday.
    
There wasn't any real danger, but you wouldn't know that by the way things looked.

A scene straight out of an 80's action movie.

A plane carrying dozens of prisoners crash lands at the airport, striking another plane full of civilians.

Definitely the worst case scenario.

"It's just communication between the different entities as they come. Where they go, are they following the protocols that have been established," Deputy Airport Director Kurt Claussen says.

Nearly a dozen agencies participated in the drill.

From the fire fighters working on the flames to Mayo Clinic treating and transporting patients.

"It's just a great experience. It's very seldom that we can get all those agencies together and learn how we can better work together more efficiently to do the most good," Rochester Fire Captain Ken Dose explains.

Unlike a real crash each group is color coated. The prisoners dressed in orange and civilians dressed in gray.

The evaluators in red quietly taking notes.

"That way we can sit down after this is over and determine some of the areas that may be things that we did well and maybe things we can improve on," Claussen says.

The situation may seem a little extreme, but coordinating something like this is no easy task.

That's why organizers tried to jam in as many variables as they could preparing people for anything that could happen.