A
giant crane tries to lift the grounded Cebu Pacific Airbus from the mud
off the runway at Davao International Airport on Tuesday. By nightfall,
workers had pulled the plane out and towed it out of the runway. FILE
PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — The Civil Aviation Authority of the
Philippines said Wednesday its investigators have retrieved the black
box and flight data recorder of the Cebu Pacific Airbus 320 plane that
missed the runway on landing at Davao International Airport in heavy
rain last Sunday.
CAAP deputy director-general and acting spokesman Rodante Joya
said the team will take the black box and flight data recorder to the
Airbus office in Singapore, where the devices would be opened to recover
pertinent data that could be used in the probe.
Joya said the plane’s pilots, Capt. Antonio Roel Oropesa and
First Officer Edwin Perello, have both been grounded for the duration of
the investigation and might be summoned to shed light on the incident.
The CAAP official vowed stringent penalties wou8ld be imposed if
it is determined that there was improper maintenance of the aircraft or
if the crew or pilots were guilty of misconduct.
“If they committed a big violation—for example, it’s proven that
they had taken illegal substances or alcohol—then that’s punishable with
revocation of license,” Joya told reporters.
Joya, a retired Philippine Air Force general, was one of the CAAP
officials who earlier said that pilot error was the likely cause of the
accident, not technical problems or the bad weather.
“As of now there’s no indication of engine problems. Despite the
downpour, the pilot reported seeing the runway and the plane was cleared
for landing,” he said.
He said the investigation will also include the alleged inaction
and other lapses of the crew which the plane’s passengers had complained
about.
Joya said the CAAP has also ordered Davao International Airport
general manager Frederick San Felix to submit a written report on the
incident, following complaints by the Davao City government that its
rescue teams were denied entry to the airport minutes after the
accident.
The CAAP also defended the agency from criticism that it was
protecting Cebu Pacific because it took so long for the aircraft to be
removed from a grassy strip of earth next to the runway’s shoulder where
the plane touched down, its nose lurching into the ground.
In a radio interview, CAAP deputy director general John Andrews
said the main reason the agency could not readily take over the
operations to extricate the aircraft from was because CAAP lacked the
necessary heavy equipment. The airport was shut down for two days,
disrupting air transportation to and from a major regional business hub.
He said the agency also had to wait for Cebu Pacific’s consent before moving the $40-million, 60-ton aircraft.
“The CAAP has no legal right to touch the aircraft until there is
consent from the owner. They said their insurance claims might be
affected. We might get sued. Never mind the suit, but we (CAAP office in
Davao) had no equipment,” he said, adding that only the CAAP units in
Manila and Cebu had the machinery to remove aircraft.
He said the CAAP will fast-track the investigation.
“We will determine if the pilots committed lapses in the
procedures because, more or less, it is almost certain that this was
caused by human error, pilot error,” Andrews said.
The accident occurred while European Union air safety officials
were visiting the country to determine if the country could be taken off
the regional bloc’s blacklist of countries with aviation safety
standards below international norms.
“I think the ban will be removed. What happened [in Davao] showed
what we can do if there’s an incident like that,” Andrews replied when
asked if the Davao incident will have a bearing on the evaluation,
adding that the EU air safety officials’ focus was whether the CAAP as a
regulatory body was doing its job well.
Cebu Pacific’s vice president for marketing and distribution,
Candice Iyog, insisted in a television interview Wednesday there was no
emergency to warrant the immediate evacuation of the passengers.
In a television interview, Iyog said the airline had to wait for
experts from the Singapore to determine how to remove the plane as parts
of it had sunk in the mud.
“It wasn’t an emergency landing. It was a normal landing. The
plane got clearance to land and landed on the runway safely. There was a
heavy downpour and we don’t know if the wind was strong but it (the
aircraft) veered off to the side of the runway. We will know what really
happened during the investigation,” she said.
She said eyewitness accounts about the pilot visiting the
lavatory several times and ordering coffee would have to be “validated.”
Iyog also defended Cebu Pacific crew whom passengers had accused
of neglect and inaction. She said the crew’s main priority was how to
deplane the passengers safely.
“Our crew observed the standard procedures of this kind of
incident. After the plane landed, they did not see anything outside
because of the heavy rains. They looked if the engine is burning or if
there are other emergency situations, but the pilot said everything was
under control so what our crew did as instructed was a precautionary
evacuation,” she said.
“It’s not an emergency evacuation wherein all slides will be
deployed and everybody will jump out of the plane. We did it
(precautionary evacuation) because we want to make sure no one gets hurt
in the deplaning, since the plane was already tipped on its nose.
People might get hurt if every one will rush to the exit in panic,” Iyog
added.
The airline official also said the smoke reported in the cabin by
witnesses probably came from the aircraft’s rubber tires as the
aircraft screeched on the runway.
“According to the pilot there was no smoke when he looked into
the cabin. It could be from the rubber on the pavement as the plane
landed. But the smoke dissipated. And it was clear, you can see from the
front to the back of the cabin. It’s not [the kind of] smoke wherein
there’s no visibility,” she said.
Iyog said the actions of the crew and pilots would be reviewed
and that airline would draft new guidelines on how to handle
emergencies.
At Ninoy Aquino International Airport, flights to and from Davao
were back to normal Wednesday. At total of 27 flights and return trips
were scheduled Wednesday, although several flights departed or arrived
late.
The Manila International Airport Authority, state operator of
NAIA, said a total of 86 flights were cancelled because of the Davao
incident.
The MIAA sent a three-man team from its fire and rescue division to help in the removal of the disabled aircraft.
