Amsterdam Airport Schiphol goes virtual for emergency training

Published: 15 February, 2012

The RescueSim Virtual Emergency Response Platform will prepare Schiphol’s emergency services and safety personnel for airport incidents.

With almost 50 million passengers and over 420,000 aircraft movements in 2011, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is one of the busiest airports in the world and a leading air traffic hub in Europe, with a dedicated fire brigade of over 140 persons.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol operates one of the most advanced airport firefighting training centres in the world. The combination of state-of-the-art emergency response equipment and well prepared emergency response crews, ranks Schiphol amongst the world’s best prepared airports.

Following a formal tender process Schiphol selected RescueSim as its virtual emergency response training tool. RescueSim will provide the airport’s emergency services with a state-of-the-art training tool allowing crews to simulate a wide range of airport incidents and practice their response strategies for these incidents in a cost effective and safe way.

VSTEP, a European developer of simulators and virtual training software, is working closely with the Schiphol Fire Brigade to customize its RescueSim training platform to include a full virtual 3D model of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and the surrounding area and relevant incident scenarios.

The fire brigade will have at their disposal all relevant aircraft types, emergency services vehicles and equipment as well as general airport equipment, guaranteeing realistic incident simulation.

Tom van Maastrigt, Project Executive and Manager Preparation & Safety Training, Schiphol Group, said: “Training is an essential and ongoing business for emergency response teams. Virtual training will be an important part of the training programme for Incident Commanders and crews. We expect a long lasting partnership with VSTEP to ensure that not only our fire brigade will benefit, but all parties involved in the emergency organisation at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol as well!”

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol joins Dutch Railways and Port of Rotterdam as users of RescueSim. The software helps emergency response teams prepare for any thinkable incident by letting them train in a realistic virtual environment, without the dangers, costs and time associated with traditional practical training.

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