Black box, data recorder taken from Cebu Pacific plane; pilots grounded

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.