Family Assistance: When Preparedness Meets Empathy
- Patrick Trancu
- May 14
- 2 min read
On Tuesday, we once again had the privilege of supporting one of Italy’s leading airport operators during a partial exercise of its Family Assistance Plan, a critical component of aviation emergency preparedness.
For approximately four hours, the TT&A Role Playing Team – Camilla Segarizzi, Edoardo Sisto, Giacomo Nacci, Sara Caffo, Sofia Bettinelli and Valentina Spinelli – assumed the role of family members awaiting news about a flight involved in an emergency situation.
Members of the TT&A Role-Playing Team taking part in a partial drill of the Family Support Plan at a major italian airport.
Exercises of this kind go far beyond testing procedures and organisational processes. Their primary purpose is to prepare people for one of the most challenging responsibilities they may ever face: interacting with relatives experiencing uncertainty, fear, anger and distress while waiting for information about their loved ones.
The exercise followed a dedicated training session for the airport operator’s Airport Contact Team, delivered the previous week by myself together with Fabio Sbattella, Associate Advisor at TT&A Advisors and Professor of Emergency Psychology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.
The activity provided an important opportunity to assess not only procedures and roles, but also interpersonal skills, active listening, emotional management and communication capabilities. In a Family Assistance context, these competencies are every bit as important as operational and logistical preparedness.
We are particularly proud of the long-standing relationship we have developed with this major airport operator. Exercise after exercise, the progress is evident. Equally evident is the professional growth of the Airport Contact Team, resulting from a structured programme that combines training, simulation and practical experience.
Family Assistance cannot be improvised. It requires preparation, sensitivity, continuous practice and an understanding that behind every procedure are people living through what may be the most difficult moment of their lives.
This is why we continue to believe that preparedness is not merely a matter of regulatory compliance. It is an investment in an organisation’s ability to respond with competence, humanity and responsibility when it matters most.
