LAX prepares for medical disaster scenario

LOS ANGELES, CA (FOX 11) - It looks like a normal flight, but a command center is set up a few feet away.

Authorities with the county health department, firefighters, and airport officials are all ready to burst onto the tarmac.

Men wearing hazmat suits, get on the plane.

The two patients who made it to the LAX leg of the journey emerge in stretchers

They're actually crisis actors

And this is a drill for a worst case health scenario at LAX.

It's one so contagious, even the ambulances are made with all metal inside; not a single piece of fabric that could potentially transport diseases.

"This patient will be in an ambulance where the air systems from the back and to the drivers are completely separated," said Stella Fogleman a Director LA County Dept Public Health

We got a rare look inside A cargo plane fully equipped for a medical disaster with two health care units
A nurse on board compares the drill to his very real experience of aiding Ebola patients just a few years ago

"Very intense. We had very short notice. We hadn't completely tested the equipment. We were learning on the fly. We had basic types of protocol to follow," said Vance Ferebee the nurse onboard.

Authorities say the drill went smoothly, but there's still work to be done

"If we do have gaps, it's communications. The communication from the federal levels to our local partners even to our receiving facilities," said Edward Bushman the Director Emergency Management LAX.

"Really just more coordination with us, about the timing of the when the aircraft going to arrive so there's less waiting on each end," said Ferebee.

The height of the Ebola crisis was 4 years ago.

So why did it take so long for a drill of this magnitude to happen?

I'm told today's event - getting all these agencies together - was months in the making.