Question

1. What is the purpose of an AEP? What should be included in an AEP?

2. What is NIMS? How do FAA Part 139 Airports use NIMS?

3. What are irregular operations? What are some causes of irregular operations and how can we as airport operations managers prevent them?

Answer 1

Answer -The Airport emergency planning is the process of preparing an airport to cope with an emergency occurring at the airport or in its vicinity.

The objective of an airport emergency plan is to minimize the effects of an emergency,mainly in saving lives.

AEP sets forth the procedures for coordinating the response of different aerodrome agencies (services) and of those agencies in the surrounding community that could be of assistance in respond to the emergency.

• Names and contact numbers of services or peoples to alert in the case of emergency.
• Grid map of the aerodrome and its immediate surroundings.

Answer -NIMS is a comprehensive, national approach to incident management that is applicable at all jurisdictional levels and across functional disciplines. The intent of NIMS is to: Be applicable across a full spectrum of potential incidents and hazard scenarios, regardless of size or complexity. Improve coordination and cooperation between public and private entities in a variety of domestic incident management activities.

There are many documents outside of an approved AEP that airports use as actionable plans and training tools for emergency response. This may indicate that there are challenges with the sufficiency of AEPs to be effective stand-alone response documents. Airports generate other documents outside of their AEPs to make them actionable, potentially putting the airport in jeopardy with FAA approvals. Many airports are unwilling to expand AEPs to be actionable and trainable, and instead keep them very general. This tactic lessens the perception that an inspector will find differences between the AEP and actual response, leading to potential enforcement action by FAA.

ANSWER - IRREGULAR OPERATIONS REFERS TO A SITUATION IN WHICH A FLIGHT DOES NOT OPERATE AS PLANNED,ON SCHEDULE,CANCELLED,OR HAS A CHANGE OF EQUIPMENT SO THAT NOT ALL PASSENGERS CAN BE ACCOMODATED.

FOR FLIGHTS THAT IS ORIGINATING FROM US OR CONNECTING FROM US PASSENGERS MAY BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE COMPENSATION IN DELAY LONGER THAN 90 MINUTES.

CAUSES OF IRREGULAR OPERATIONS ARE BAD WEATHER, CIVIL UNREST,STRIKE,CREW STAFF,MECHANICAL OR TECHNICAL PROBLEMS,CREW LOGISTICS,NATURAL DISASTERS ETC..

There are a group of service providers that are considered to be typically found at airports that are vital in local IROPS planning efforts. Coordination with these entities (identified in the following sections) is critical in order to establish procedure that will be followed during an event occured.