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Media Guide This guide provides the local and national news media with information that will facilitate their coverage of the Dane County Regional Airport (DCRA), in Madison, Wisconsin. It outlines the procedures the media must follow during an emergency or other news event. DCRA will help the media with coverage of newsworthy events to the extent possible. However, the airport’s first priorities must be to safeguard lives and property and to maintain airport operations. (See Guide below.)
Media Personnel Procedures
Types of airfield emergencies Aircraft alerts are conditions that present either a danger or threat to the safe continued operation of an aircraft and/or airport. There are three alert conditions: Alert 1 Indicates that a non-airline aircraft approaching the airport is experiencing minor difficulty, such as an oil leak or propeller or turbine failure. Alert 2 Indicates minor difficulty on any airline aircraft or any aircraft capable of a gross weight of 75,000 lbs. or more. It also indicates any other aircraft approaching the airport in major difficulty, such as an engine fire, faulty landing gear, lacking hydraulic pressure. Alert 3 Indicates an aircraft crash or other emergency has occurred on or immediately adjacent the airport property. During an Alert 3, all incoming non-emergency traffic will be stopped at Darwin Road and International Lane. Media will need Madison Police Department emergency scene credentials to access the airport proper, a non-secure area. DCRA has standard responses to each alert condition. These responses may include mutual aid support from the city of Madison and surrounding municipal fire and rescue units. These responses may include pre-determined locations adjacent to runways and/or to the aircraft locations. Questions regarding a specific aircraft emergency including, aircraft type, number of passengers, nature of emergency, and flight information must be made to the:
Off-airport aviation emergencies In the event that an aircraft accident occurs outside of the airport boundaries, airport officials will assist and cooperate as much as possible. However, the municipality in charge will have jurisdiction over the accident area. In this case, the primary media contact is the aircraft owner and the information officer with jurisdiction over the accident area. Aircraft security incidents The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has jurisdiction over aircraft hijacking and/or hostage incidents, when the incident occurs onboard an aircraft in-flight. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has jurisdiction over aircraft hijacking and/or hostage incidents, when the incident occurs on board an aircraft on the ground. The TSA also has responsibility for all screening checkpoints and the screening of all luggage. DCRA personnel will respond to aircraft hijacking and/or hostage incidents. They will exercise primary command responsibility until proper jurisdiction is established. Once jurisdiction is established, DCRA and other local law enforcement agencies will provide support to the lead agency as requested. Airport facts In 1938, the city of Madison began initial construction of the Madison Municipal Airport on the east side of the present airfield. From 1942 to 1946, the US Army Corps of Engineers maintained control of the airport facilities – Truax Field – returning control of expanded facilities to the city of Madison. The airport transferred to Dane County in 1974. In 1966, the US Air Force phased out its operations at Truax Field, leaving the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s 115th Fighter Wing and the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 147th Aviation Battalion to occupy the southeastern part of Truax Field. Additionally in 1966, commercial airline operations were moved to the current western site, and a new 31,000-square-foot terminal was built. Subsequent additions to the commercial terminal added 60,000 square feet in 1985 and 35,000 in 1991. In 2006, after the most recent remodel and expansion, the terminal totals 274,000 square feet. General aviation operations are located on the eastern side of the airfield. In 1994, the present Fixed Base Operator – Wisconsin Aviation – began operations at DCRA. In 2002, they opened a new, state-of-the-art, 15,000-square-foot general aviation terminal. DCRA has three runways that are numbered according to compass heading:
Annually, there are nearly 120,000 landing and take-off operations; 59 percent are general aviation operations, 34 percent are commercial, and 7 percent military. Passenger activity (departures and arrivals) grew from 500,000 in 1974 to one million in 1990, and 1.6 million in 2006. DCRA is served by seven commercial air carriers with over 100 departures and arrivals per day. In addition, the two freight carriers moved over 26 million pounds of freight and mail through DCRA in 2006. The airport is located approximately five miles northeast of Madison’s city center: longitude 89 degrees 20 minutes west, latitude 43 degrees 8 minutes north, elevation 886 feet above mean sea level.
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