by Phil Richard, Hesston College Director of Communications

A crisis is not the preferred way to test a crisis communications plan. Nevertheless, the Saturday, Nov. 1, 2003, plane crash involving a Hesston (Kan.) College flight instructor and two aviation students netted a number of learnings.

Hesston College has a plan for Crisis Management Communication, developed several years ago while Dr. Loren Swartzendruber was president. The leadership team of the college, together with interim president Peter Wiebe, reviewed and updated the document soon after Wiebe began July 1, 2003.

One loophole we uncovered was that the plan didn't include steps to be taken if the crisis occurs during a weekend. In this particular case, the crash occurred around noon Saturday. So one remedy we've developed is a list of cell phone and home phone numbers for leadership team members.

I've also learned some valuable lessons from this unexpected event.

1. Do the best you can with what information you have when you receive media queries and requests for interviews. Fortunately, this crisis was an accident, rather than a scandal, which from my experience means the media isn't poised as an adversary. They're just trying to get information, too. For instance, the cameraman who requested the first TV interview Saturday evening for a Wichita TV station clearly understood that the information we had at that point was still sketchy.

2. If the crisis happens off-campus, develop your own source(s) of accurate information as quickly as possible. That was critical, since the plane crash occurred in New Mexico. I relied on the aviation director and dean of students for information to some extent, especially for information related to the condition of the two persons who were severely injured.

But I also looked for news stories on the web posted by newspapers near the crash site, and found a story by the Alamagorodo (N.M.) Daily News posted yet Saturday evening. I also called the local county sheriff's office, which referred me to the New Mexico State Police. That information led me to the Public Information Officer for the State Police, who could tell me what the police report said.

3. If misinformation begins spreading, squelch it as soon as possible. One rumor we heard about Sunday afternoon was that one of the persons had died. We knew that wasn't true, so we developed a news story to post on the college website.

Another instance of incorrect information came Monday morning, when a Goshen (Ind.) News reporter called and indicated that the New Mexico State Police source they talked with indicated that the trio was sightseeing. I clarified with the reporter that they were on a cross-country mountain flying course which is part of the aviation department curriculum.

Then I requested from the Goshen News reporter the name of the New Mexico State Police official who gave them the information, and a phone number. I called the number, and told him why the airplane was flying in that area. That person said he would update the report, as well as e-mail the state police posts.

4. Find out what the wire services (Associated Press, etc.) are printing about the crisis. Through a series of queries about six weeks after the event, I learned that our library has free access to Lexis-Nexis (Lexis-Nexis.com). As a result, I found two Associated Press stories about the accident. The first story issued Saturday, Nov. 1, had a Cloudcroft, N.M., dateline. The second story released Monday, Nov. 3, had a Hesston dateline.

During my evaluation after the plane crash, I also called the local newspaper editor, and asked for phone numbers for the area Associated Press desk in Wichita and the state AP desk in Kansas City (for Kansas and Missouri). Those numbers will be helpful in the future.

6. Feel free to call on others to help. I called Web Content Manager Larry Bartel Sunday afternoon to post our web story about the accident. Since the accident, I've identified several people to do basketball play-by-play (PBP) in the event of an emergency/crisis. To make a long story short, I learned about the accident shortly before we were scheduled to do PBP of a women's and men's basketball game. Had I had those people to call on, I could have been freed to focus on the crisis, get information, and be prepared for media queries.

Overall, we felt we managed the crisis and the needed communication quite well, including keeping faculty, staff, and students up-to-date, and dealing with the media. We're also thankful that the two young men who were severely injured continue on the road to recovery. And we appreciate the prayers and support expressed both on- and off-campus.