Vnukovo International Airport hosted annual VKO-Profi professional skills competition among the employees of Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting (ARFF) Service.
The competition site was the emergency rescue station of the airport. The contest consisted of a theoretical part for all of the participants and four stages of practical exercises assessed by time and performance. The event was held in the form of drills which were as close as possible to real conditions.
Dmitry Yerzakovich, the First Deputy Director General of Vnukovo International Airport, announced the start of the competition and wished the participants good luck. «Let the best of the best win,» he said.
The practical part for rescuers included putting on protective suit and equipment, connecting fire hose to a fire truck and extinguishing a simulated fire, working with a rescue tool (hydraulic shears) and carrying a victim (dummy) for 15 meters to a stretcher. The average time to complete all stages of the competition was less than three minutes.
The drivers had to make a maneuver (hemisphere), drive into a tight enclosure and garage, hit a target with a water gun and knock down its cone. All exercises were performed on a modern airfield fire truck OSHKOSH Striker 6×6. Vnukovo has several emergency vehicles of this class. In addition to OSHKOSH Striker 6×6, the airport has the latest generation of the Rosenbauer Panther 6×6 fire trucks. The speed of these special vehicles can go up to 130 km/h. Thanks to a unique configuration, these heavyweight vehicles can move smoothly at high speed and reach any point of the airport in the shortest time possible. No other airport in Russia has a similar fleet of airfield fire trucks.
«Vnukovo Airport has been providing flights for civil and state aviation for more than 80 years, paying great attention to safety of passengers and crews. Aircraft rescue and emergency support is one of the key priorities of Vnukovo Airport. At the VKO-Profi competition, the personnel of the Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Service of Vnukovo International Airport demonstrated their professional skills,» said Alexander Minaev, Head of ARFF Service of Vnukovo International Airport.
Svetlana Steshina, HR Director of Vnukovo International Airport, said, «Our employees promptly and efficiently solve issues of any complexity. We prioritize continuous professional growth of our staff. VKO-Profi contest is an effective platform for improving professional skills and strengthening team spirit of the Vnukovo Airport workers».
At the end of the competition Konstantin Velichko, Egor Larionov, Varuzhan Mangursuzian and Vitaly Samoilov were announced the best rescuers.
The winners among the drivers of the ARFF Service are Ivan Korotkiy, Alexander Sorokin, Arthur Kozik, Denis Davydov.
All participants received certificates, diplomas, souvenirs and gifts. Vnukovo International Airport thanks its partners LLC Aeroexpress and JSC UTG for their invaluable assistance in organizing this event.
On October 12, Vnukovo Airport will host a full-scale tactical and special training with a simulated emergency situation on «Actions of Ground Search and Rescue Team of Vnukovo International Airport, other organizations and departments interacting during an aviation event at the Vnukovo airfield», code «Yellow» (with a subsequent transition to the code «Red»). Exercises performed using the Tu-134 aircraft simulator will demonstrate actions of specialists rescuing people and extinguishing fire on an aircraft, as well as during the evacuation, the removal and the relocation of an aircraft from the airfield in an emergency.
Vnukovo International Airport is one of the largest air transport facilities in Russia. The airport handles about 200,000 flights of Russian and foreign airlines annually. Its network covers the whole territory of Russia as well as near and far-abroad countries, Europe, Americas, Asia and Africa. In 2019, Vnukovo International Airport broke a historical record and served more than 24 million passengers which is 11,7% or 2.5 million passengers more than in 2018. Vnukovo airport terminal with a total area of about 300,000 square meters is able to handle up to 35 million passengers per year. Vnukovo International Airport is the only airport in Russia to have received Letter of Commendation from the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin for labor achievements and high performance. Moreover, Vnukovo Airport was recognized as the Best International Airport by Air Gateway of Russia award and Best Airport: overcoming challenges 2020 at National Aviation Infrastructure Show (NAIS) for three consecutive years.
