MCAS reigns supreme in responding to local airport emergencies

About 20-minutes before yesterday’s American Airlines emergency landing at Yuma International Airport, the Marine Corps Air Station’s ( MCAS ) dispatch received a call over their crash phone, alerting them that the incoming plane was being diverted due to smoke in the cockpit.

According to the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Station Captain, Gunnery Sgt. Jose Negrete , the Marines were on the airfield within 5 minutes, awaiting the bird’s landing, and prepared for the worst.

Yuma International Airport is actually on the MCAS airfield, which is why the Marines are typically the first to respond to any emergency at the airport.

Sgt. Negrete said, ” We have the P-19R which holds a thousand gallons [of water] and it consists of four crew members. Then we also have a tanker which holds five thousand gallons [of water]. We have a rescue vehicle that has all the rescue tools and equipment. ”

However, by the time the American Airlines plane landed, the flight crew already extinguished the fire and cleared the smoke.

But, Sgt. Negrete told News 11 that safety is the Marines’ main priority, even if that means standing by to ensure the incident is under control.

” We positioned ourselves to make sure there was nothing unusual [like] any smoke or anything coming out. Then, [the plane] taxied back to its line, and then from there we sent two of our Marines inside to make sure that everything was safe and nothing was hazardous to the people on board, ” he said.

An hour and a half later, passengers were released from the plane into the airport’s boarding area, where they waited for a backup plane to arrive from Phoenix.

The new flight took off from Yuma to Charlotte, North Carolina at roughly 6 pm.