Constellation
29th April 2000, 11:10
Air Philippines 737-200 jet
makes emergency landing
See related story:
Gov. Piņol to seek aid of US court on crash
AN AIR Philippines jet carrying 62 passengers made an emergency landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday noon after its air-conditioning system emitted smoke in mid-air.
No one was hurt but many of the 56 passengers and six crew were shaken by the dark smoke that engulfed the cabin of the Boeing 737-200 several minutes before it landed in Manila, witnesses said.
The accident happened nine days after another Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 crashed on Samal Island in Davao, just a few kilometers from the Davao City international airport, killing all 124 passengers and seven crew aboard.
Yesterday's near-tragedy is certain to renew calls for the grounding of Air Philippines' Boeing 737-200 fleet. Air Philippines is owned by Chinese-Filipino tycoon and Philippine Airlines chair Lucio Tan, who bought it from ''plastics king'' William Gatchalian.
The airline has a fleet of 11 Boeing 737-200 jets but only nine are in operation.
The stricken plane stopped at the runway exit to let out the thick smoke that filled the passengers' cabin and cockpit, according to engineer Octavio Lina, chief of the airport ground operations division.
Lina said that the aircraft was towed to the hangar of the Air Philippines at the domestic airport, where the passengers disembarked.
''What happened was not critical. If it was critical, the pilot would have requested the passengers to disembark at the runway exit,'' Lina said.
Some of the passengers reportedly complained that the aircraft's oxygen masks did not drop and that they had to share the oxygen masks of fellow passengers when smoke filled the cabin.
Twenty-nine of the passengers were fishermen from Pangasinan who had attended a seminar in Cebu hosted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
In a statement, Air Transportation Office chief Jacinto Ortega Jr. said he ordered the grounding the Air Philippines jet that made an emergency landing.
He said that the jet, registered as RPC 2021, will be inspected, adding that any deficiency found will be corrected in accordance with the maintenance program of the airline.
Ortega also said that he was also grounding another jet of Air Philippines, registered as RPC 2025, because it had to undergo a mandatory service check after flying 3,000 hours.
Lina said that the crew of Boeing 737-200 requested an emergency landing from the air traffic control tower 12:15 p.m. after smoke billowed from the air-conditioning system in the cockpit. This later spread to the cabin.
At that time, the aircraft was at an altitude of 28,000 feet and 100 miles away from Manila. It took off from the Mactan international airport in Cebu at 11:30 a.m.
A firetruck and an ambulance, carrying a medical team, drove to the runway shortly after the pilots, Capt. Rey Galang and First Officer Arturo Bagadiong, called for an emergency landing from the air traffic control tower at 12:15 p.m.
According to the ATO, the aircraft experienced a system A hydraulic loss. System A refers to the air-conditioning system.
Ortega rejected the idea of grounding all the Boeing 737-200 of Air Philippines, saying that these have passed aviation safety standards.
The manufacturer of Boeing 737-200 aircraft vouched for the airworthiness of this type of aircraft, saying that it has an excellent safety record during its 30-year history of service.
The US Federal Aviation Administration, however, recommended a redesign of the rudder control system of the Boeing 737 series after extensive tests showed that it could malfunction in several ways.
makes emergency landing
See related story:
Gov. Piņol to seek aid of US court on crash
AN AIR Philippines jet carrying 62 passengers made an emergency landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday noon after its air-conditioning system emitted smoke in mid-air.
No one was hurt but many of the 56 passengers and six crew were shaken by the dark smoke that engulfed the cabin of the Boeing 737-200 several minutes before it landed in Manila, witnesses said.
The accident happened nine days after another Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 crashed on Samal Island in Davao, just a few kilometers from the Davao City international airport, killing all 124 passengers and seven crew aboard.
Yesterday's near-tragedy is certain to renew calls for the grounding of Air Philippines' Boeing 737-200 fleet. Air Philippines is owned by Chinese-Filipino tycoon and Philippine Airlines chair Lucio Tan, who bought it from ''plastics king'' William Gatchalian.
The airline has a fleet of 11 Boeing 737-200 jets but only nine are in operation.
The stricken plane stopped at the runway exit to let out the thick smoke that filled the passengers' cabin and cockpit, according to engineer Octavio Lina, chief of the airport ground operations division.
Lina said that the aircraft was towed to the hangar of the Air Philippines at the domestic airport, where the passengers disembarked.
''What happened was not critical. If it was critical, the pilot would have requested the passengers to disembark at the runway exit,'' Lina said.
Some of the passengers reportedly complained that the aircraft's oxygen masks did not drop and that they had to share the oxygen masks of fellow passengers when smoke filled the cabin.
Twenty-nine of the passengers were fishermen from Pangasinan who had attended a seminar in Cebu hosted by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
In a statement, Air Transportation Office chief Jacinto Ortega Jr. said he ordered the grounding the Air Philippines jet that made an emergency landing.
He said that the jet, registered as RPC 2021, will be inspected, adding that any deficiency found will be corrected in accordance with the maintenance program of the airline.
Ortega also said that he was also grounding another jet of Air Philippines, registered as RPC 2025, because it had to undergo a mandatory service check after flying 3,000 hours.
Lina said that the crew of Boeing 737-200 requested an emergency landing from the air traffic control tower 12:15 p.m. after smoke billowed from the air-conditioning system in the cockpit. This later spread to the cabin.
At that time, the aircraft was at an altitude of 28,000 feet and 100 miles away from Manila. It took off from the Mactan international airport in Cebu at 11:30 a.m.
A firetruck and an ambulance, carrying a medical team, drove to the runway shortly after the pilots, Capt. Rey Galang and First Officer Arturo Bagadiong, called for an emergency landing from the air traffic control tower at 12:15 p.m.
According to the ATO, the aircraft experienced a system A hydraulic loss. System A refers to the air-conditioning system.
Ortega rejected the idea of grounding all the Boeing 737-200 of Air Philippines, saying that these have passed aviation safety standards.
The manufacturer of Boeing 737-200 aircraft vouched for the airworthiness of this type of aircraft, saying that it has an excellent safety record during its 30-year history of service.
The US Federal Aviation Administration, however, recommended a redesign of the rudder control system of the Boeing 737 series after extensive tests showed that it could malfunction in several ways.