Airport Emergency Operations, Incident Command, and Interagency Coordination
An airport emergency is a multi-agency event from the first second; this domain tests whether you know the plan, the command system, and who owns what afterwards.
The Airport Emergency Plan
14 CFR 139.325 requires a written AEP covering aircraft accidents, fires, hazardous materials, and medical emergencies, with functional annexes assigning responsibility. ICAO-style alerting uses three levels: local standby (an aircraft with a problem, no accident expected), full emergency (an accident is probable), and aircraft accident (an accident has occurred). The ARFF station must be alerted by a system audible throughout the station. Exercises are required - a full-scale exercise at least every three years with tabletop exercises in the intervening years.
Incident command
Use NIMS/ICS. The first-arriving ARFF officer establishes command, sizes up, and assigns operations and safety, adding planning, logistics, and finance as the incident grows; span of control is three to seven. Unified command is used when agencies with jurisdiction - fire, law enforcement, airport operations, EMS - share authority. Transfer of command is a formal briefing, not a radio courtesy.
Interagency realities
The tower controls the movement area; aircraft operators provide manifests and technical representatives; the NTSB is the lead investigator for civil aircraft accidents and must be notified (49 CFR 830); the FBI leads if the event is criminal. Preserve wreckage, marks, and evidence, and do not move the aircraft without NTSB authorization.
Worked example. A runway overrun with 40 injured and three agencies on scene. Reasoning: ARFF establishes command and declares unified command with airport operations and EMS; the tower closes the runway; the NTSB duty officer is called early because notification is time-sensitive.
Traps. Treating a local standby as a full emergency (or the reverse); handing over command without a briefing; letting wreckage be moved before the NTSB arrives.