Zest Air MA-60 mishap prompts closure of Caticlan airport
HUNDREDS of passengers were stranded at the Caticlan Airport when operation was stopped because of a Zest Air plane that overshot the runway at 7:53 a.m. on Thursday.
Zest Air Flight Z2-863, a twin-engine 60-seater plane, overshot the runway while landing, then went out of the airstrip and came to rest on the grassy portion of the field.
There were no reported injuries among the passengers, comprising of 50 adults, four children and one infant. The passengers were evacuated from the plane by the responding airport rescue team and were ferried to the terminal by bus.
The plane, a Chinese-made Modern Ark (MA) 60 with registry number RP-C8892, left the Manila Domestic Airport at about 6:40 a.m., director general Ruben Ciron of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) said.
Ciron ordered the immediate removal of the plane out of the runway vicinity so that operations could immediately resume.
“We don’t want to jeopardize airport operations because there are 32 to 34 flights out of Caticlan daily,” Ciron said.
He added that he had talked to Zest Air management to help expedite the clearing of the airport, since rescue crews in Caticlan are now on standby with a loader and a firetruck.
However, it was reported that Zest Air management had asked for a little more time to allow their technical men to study the aircraft configuration so as not to aggravate the damage during the removal operations.
At the same time, aircraft investigators from the Caap also had to make an assessment of the incident and the aircraft before any move to tamper with the accident scene is carried out, Ciron added.
Initial investigation showed that when he asked for landing instructions, the pilot, Capt. Bernard Hervoso, was directed to Runway 06, the “active” runway at the time. However, it was reported that Hervoso requested to use Runway 24 instead.
The request was granted, although it would mean that the airplane would be landing with a tail wind.
Investigators are now verifying eyewitnesses reports that the plane landed almost at the middle of the 1,050-meter- long runway.
Cebu Pacific (CEB) Airlines reported that its Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights 895, 896, 897, 898, 899, 900, 901, 902, 913 and 914 are canceled owing to the Caticlan airport’s runway’s closure.
Local air carriers have long requested the Caap that the runway be lengthened either by extending Runway 06 to the sea or removing a hill at the end of Runway 24.
However the Caap was not able to carry out the runway improvements because of political wrangling at the local level.
Caticlan is the seventh busiest airport in the Philippines and the third busiest in Western Visayas. It is also the hub of Southeast Asian Airlines serving the most destinations in and out of the neighboring Malay, Aklan.
The MA 60 twin-turbo prop plane is one of several types of aircraft flown by Zest Air. It is also known as the Xinzhou-60 and is a product of the Xian Aircraft Industry Corp. of China that costs $12.5 million.
On January 11, three passengers were injured when another MA-60 Zest Air plane crashed at the Caticlan airport.
Reports said strong winds caused the aircraft’s landing gear to explode, hitting the airport fence. After swerving 180 degrees, the plane was, with registry number RP-C8893 crashed into the airport’s passenger lounge.