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.)
Aiport Contact Information
Media Personnel Procedures
- General procedures
Fire and rescue operations are the highest priority during disaster operations. While fire rescue
operations are in progress, an escort may not be available to news media. Escorts will be provided
as soon as operations permit. Under no circumstances are media personnel allowed to proceed to the
Air Operations Area (AOA) without an escort.
- Arrival procedures
Media are asked to contact the airport communications manager at (608) 661-6485 or, if she is not
available, the 24-hour on-duty operations staff on their pager at (608) 657-2099, if intending to park
in the commercial lane and report from the airport. Media personnel arriving at DCRA on official business
– to cover a news story – may park their vehicles in the commercial lanes, as long as the vehicle is marked
with proper company and/or media identification. The airport’s two commercial lanes are to the east of
the parking ramp. Vehicles not identified as media must park in the public parking area. Satellite remote
vehicles used for live broadcasting should use the staging area located south of the terminal, curbside, in
the most easterly lane.
Media wishing to obtain initial photo or television coverage of a major disaster are encouraged to set up
on the top floor of the airport’s parking ramp. This location provides a view of the airfield.
In the event of a major accident or incident, the airport marketing and communications manager or her
designee is responsible for coordinating all media activities. This includes providing escorts for media
while in the AOA, ensuring that the information is properly disseminated and that regulations, procedures,
and on-scene command-post instructions are followed.
- Transportation to accident site
DCRA will provide escorted access to the accident site on an impartial basis. Media personnel will be
under escort by DCRA personnel at the accident scene. MEDIA VEHICLES ARE NOT
ALLOWED IN THE AOA.
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:
- Specific airline for commercial aircraft
- Fixed base operator for general aviation aircraft
- Military for military aircraft
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.