Do not be alarmed if on Saturday, May 17, 2008, you witness smoke and emergency vehicles blazing through the airfield of William P. Hobby Airport. Houston’s second-largest airport will be hosting a routine emergency drill in compliance with the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) safety requirements.

In order to test the skills of airport emergency responders, hundreds of airport employees and volunteers will bring a simulated aircraft emergency to life at Hobby Airport on that date.

The exact emergency scenario will not be revealed until the day of the actual drill, but overall airport authorities expect to fine tune their preparedness and response abilities.

“The full scale practice drills allows airport operations to evaluate its processes and procedures, which in turn highlights our strengths and weaknesses,” says Dawn Hoffman, airport operations supervisor at Hobby Airport. “This knowledge is essential to improving emergency response.”

Full scale practice drills are a requirement by the FAA under Part 139 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. The purpose of these exercises is to evaluate an airport’s operational capability and its emergency management system under a strenuous environment, in an effort to demonstrate and strengthen coordination and response capabilities.

All US passenger airports are required to complete a full-scale exercise drill once every three years. George Bush Intercontinental Airport completed its full scale emergency drill in October of last year.

For airport manager, Mary Case, the benefit of complying with these requirements is giving her travelers peace of mind.

“People don’t always think about aircraft emergencies when they are traveling, but it is always very reassuring to know that the airport you are relying on is prepared,” she says. “We generally never have any major issues during these exercise drills. They do allow us to identify areas that need improvement and to fine tune our operations.”