ASAR Terrain Exercise “ASAR 2018 JASTREBARSKO“

Croatia Control participated today in an aircraft search and rescue terrain exercise “ASAR 2018 JASTREBARSKO” organized by the National Protection and Rescue Directorate and conducted at the former “Dr. Ante Starčević” barracks in Jastrebarsko and the surrounding area (airplane crash site) and in the locations of aeronautical search and rescue operational duty stations.
 
The aim of the exercise was to check the operational coordination of the units participating in ASAR operations, the coordination of activities at the accident site, the verification of valid information exchange procedures and the deployment of units to the airplane accident site according to the regulation on the conditions and the manner of conducting aeronautical search and rescue missions.
 
The scenario of the exercise was based on an emergency landing of a Croatia Airlines airplane on a scheduled Frankfurt – Zagreb flight with 55 passengers and crew members. In the last received radio message at 9 AM local time, the pilot reported technical issues to the air traffic control, asking for an emergency landing at Franjo Tuđman Airport. 
 
Following that, the air traffic control lost radio contact with the airplane, and in the vicinity of Jastrebarsko radar contact was lost as well. Air traffic control informed the National Protection and Rescue Directorate about those events, which then initiated a search and rescue mission and informed the competent state-level ASAR authorities, activated the RSC – Zagreb County Protection and Rescue Office – which informed the competent emergency services and other ASAR units via the Zagreb County 112 center.
 
The exercise was conducted in real time, meaning that all units which participated in the terrain exercise were arriving on the Jastrebarsko site from their headquarters from which they respond to emergency situations on a daily basis. There were in total 230 members of emergency and other services included, 55 vehicles, 2 helicopters, and 3 drones used, and the exercise itself attracted the interest of numerous domestic and foreign spectators.
 
CCL’s participants in the exercise were the shift manager of Zagreb Area Control Center, the Zagreb Approach Surveillance Control ATCO on duty, the Zagreb Aerodrome ATC Center ATCO on duty, the FIS controller on duty, the NOTAM officer on duty, the Meteorological Watch Office weather forecaster on duty, and the information and PR adviser, with an “aircraft coordinator” at the site of the exercise – a person in charge of flight safety in the SAR zone. Specific aims of the exercise for CCL included checking the airspace management procedures (establishment of TSA zones), mobilizing the “aircraft coordinator”, and initiating the critical incident stress management measures.