Emergency and support workers will be faced with a simulated scenario in which an in-bound passenger aircraft has a catastrophic wing failure and crashes to the ground adjacent to the runway.

The aircraft fuselage will be represented by one or two buses and volunteers will represent the passengers.

AlburyCity Councillor Alice Glachan said the exercise would help airport staff and emergency services to fine tune their knowledge should they ever need it in a real-life airport emergency.

“Safety is always the number one priority in aviation and we have an excellent record in that field but at the same time, it pays to ensure we are as prepared as we possibly can be in the unlikely event that we do have to respond to a major incident at the airport,” she said.

“By testing our airport emergency plan in conjunction with our emergency services we can learn valuable lessons and fine-tune skills that hopefully won’t ever be needed.”

The exercise will start at 1.30 pm and continue until about 3.30 pm.

All of the city’s emergency agencies have been invited to take part.

The exercise will have no impact on airport operations and flights will continue to arrive and depart as scheduled.

A debriefing will be held after the exercise to assess its efficiency.