Did you ever want to play dead on an airport runway? The Dane County Regional Airport could give you the chance.

Airport officials are putting out the call for volunteers to act as victims during an aircraft disaster exercise scheduled for Tuesday, June 14 at the airport.

The exercise will begin at 7 a.m. and run until 1:30 p.m.

Practically every law enforcement and emergency medical services unit in the area will take part in the exercise, from first responders to the Red Cross.

The Federal Aviation Administration requires disaster exercises at airports every three years to make sure emergency personnel react quickly to an accident.

"Officials use this exercise to focus on testing communications, aircraft and victim rescue, firefighting capability and aircraft operations during a disaster, and how different agencies work together," airport spokesman Brent McHenry said in a news release about the exercise.

Volunteers are needed to act as mock patients and to play other roles in the exercise.

No actual injuries are incurred and no actual medications are administered, but other than that, the exercise will be as realistic as possible.

"The event will be highly structured and will involve active rescue scenes," McHenry said. "Many Dane County agencies will be involved with field triage and treatment and simulated transport to receiving facilities."

Volunteers must be at least 18 years old and have a valid Wisconsin driver's license, or be accompanied by an adult if under 18.

For more information or to register as a volunteer, go here.

Luna the labradoodle took an unexpected and very chilly dip in  Lake Mendota on Tuesday after falling through what's left of the ice, before being pulled to safety by the Madison Fire Department lake rescue team.

The rescue happened just before noon on Tuesday near Picnic Point on the UW-Madison campus, according to Eric Dahl, spokesman for the fire department.

Luna was walking with her owner, Marc Rosenthal, of Madison, when she apparently got loose from her leash and darted onto the thin ice, breaking through into the frigid water.

A call to 911 brought fire department units to the scene, as well as the lake rescue team from Station No. 1 on Dayton Street, Dahl said.

Two divers used an amphibious ATV to go out onto the ice, while two other divers walked out on the ice to help rescue Luna.

Todd Herrington didn't expect to hear an answer as he cleared 2 feet of snow off the face that was buried below.

"I said, 'Joe,' " Herrington said. "I just figured I was saying it to a dead person."

Joe Latta answered.

"I couldn't believe a voice came out of there," Herrington said Wednesday. "I really thought he was frozen stiff. His arm wasn't moving, just sticking straight out. I have no idea, under 2 feet of snow, how you would breathe."

Latta, 66, told rescuers he ventured outside of his Rockshire Drive home about 5 a.m. Wednesday to get the mail, fell in the driveway and couldn't get up. Latta lives alone. Snow likely drifted as he lay there on his back in temperatures that dipped to the low teens. At about 6:45 a.m., snowplows pushed up more snow, covering all of Latta except a gloved hand.

Police officer Todd Schumann said Latta was covered with 29 inches of snow with probably another 4 to 6 feet below him.

About 9 a.m., Betsy Nelson, a neighbor across the street, noticed what she assumed was a piece of garbage or a little animal jumping on the drift. But something made her uneasy. Perhaps it was the garage door that was usually closed but this morning was open. Nelson hauled out a pair of binoculars.

She called the Herringtons next door.

"You guys are going to think I'm crazy," she recalled saying. "But I think there's a hand sticking from the snow."

Herrington had just finished his shift as a firefighter and was snowblowing his driveway. He crossed the street. When he found the glove, it wasn't moving.

He cleared snow from the hand so he could work his way to a head. Snow was stuffed in Latta's nostrils and was packed behind his lenses. Sally Herrington brought over a shovel, and her husband carefully shoveled snow from Latta's chest. Neighbors later found his ball cap blown two houses down.

Schumann, next on the scene, quickly dug a trench so emergency workers could get to Latta to help.

Latta was shivering violently and was stiff, Schumann said. He saw no footprints leading to the spot where the man lay. Latta told Schumann he didn't recall going unconscious. He remembered the snow pushing over him, burying him.

Herrington said Latta's clothes were dry underneath and speculated that the snow captured his body heat.

Latta was hypothermic, and Lt. Patrick Kilbane of the fire department said he was surprised he could understand his rescuers.

But how did he breathe?

"Good question," Kilbane said.

"The poor guy couldn't talk, he was shivering so bad," he said.

But Latta wasn't hurt and was breathing OK.

"What would have been going through that poor guy's mind?" Herrington wondered. "Am I going to freeze first or suffocate first?"

Herrington said it is a miracle that Latta, who was treated at and released from Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center, is alive. Several times Wednesday, Herrington stooped down, weighing the snow in his hand.

On a normal day, Nelson would have been at work long before 9 a.m.

"Someone was really looking out for him today," Herrington said.

Coast Guard crews have rescued a man who had fallen into the water below the Hoan Bridge.

The man fell into the water before 7:40 a.m. Thursday morning.