NEWSFLASH

DAVAO AIR CONTROLLERS SUSPENDED

NAIA, Pasay City, April 26, 2000 - The three air traffic controllers who were on duty at Davao International Airport during the crash of Air Philippines Flight 541 were summoned yesterday by ATO Assistant Secretary Jacinto F. Ortega Jr. and were ordered suspended pending final resolution of the investigation.

The ATO has formed a five-man aircraft accident investigation board to investigate clues regarding aircraft systems, air traffic, service and airport; human factor security and flight path. This will be correlated with the findings on the black box.

Assisting the ATO are military personnel, local government officials, the National Bureau of Investigation, police officers, a team of British forensics experts, Boeing representatives and airlines executives, who logged in endless hours of work to facilitate gathering of clues for the accident.

ATO Executive Director Rolando Luna pointed out the composition of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAID) is under the Aviation Safety Division of the ATO of which he is a member.

"The ATO is looking into all clues which can help us determine the cause of the crash," Luna told the Manila Bulletin. "All clues, no matter how trivial, will be overlooked, even the very remote ones."

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) which is under the Aviation Safety Division of the ATO, has policy guidelines regarding aircraft accident investigations similar with its US counterpart and in conjunction with the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

Luna explained that when ATO starts an investigation process after it has been notified of a major accident, it launches a team that varies in size, depending on the severity of the accident and the complexity of the issues involved.

The team consists of experts in different specialties, coordinated by the investigator-in-charge. Each expert manages a group of other specialties from government agencies and industry in collecting the facts and determining the conditions and circumstances surrounding the accident.

Luna informed the investigative groups formed vary, depending on the nature of the accident, and may look into areas such as structures, systems, human performance, fire

and explosion, radar data, event recorders, and witnesses' statements.

The findings of the investigation will be correlated with the results of the report of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR).

"After an investigation is completed, a detailed narrative report is prepared, analyzing the investigative record and identifies the probable cause of the accident," Luna said.

Luna added the ATO may even recommend a public hearing as part of the investigation. The purpose of the hearing is two-fold. First, to gather sworn testimony from subpoenaed witnesses on issues identified by the board during the course of the investigation and second, to allow the public oversee the progress of the investigation.

Hearing are usually held within six months of a major air accident, but may be postponed for complex investigations.

Rivera, meanwhile, does not discount several theories on the cause of the accident - that the plane was bombed, the air traffic control problem, the reported obstruction of a Philippine Airlines plane at the Davao airport's active runway, and the short time given the pilot, Capt. Eviluzmindo Catipay, to execute a turn-around procedure before landing.

"There were Jeppesen charts or servers which inform the pilots of standard approach formats, including amendments, which the flight 541 pilots should have followed," Rivera said. "The charts also include let-down or landing, departure, climate and topography. Everything is being complied and studied.

"What is important is the black box or the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), because it provides a detailed record of what went wrong and why. There is a Boeing representative who is helping us with the accident or the usual security check being conducted both in the international and domestic airports."

Recently, the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recommended the redesigning of rudder controls of all Boeing planes.

Ortega admitted they received an airworthiness directive from Boeing to inspect the rudder of all 737-200 planes, including the Air Philippines fleet.

"We have inspected all Air Philippines aircraft and it has been concluded that the planes have complied with all the spot checks," Ortega said. The redesigning is for better performance of the aircraft. The manufacturer will be the ones to redesign that and will give the rudder back to the airline company. Our job is to supervise if the new rudder has been correctly installed.

"While we understand the public's clamor to find out the cause of the accident. We would not like to speculate on the cause of causes until the official transcript of the FDR and the CVR has been analyzed. The transcript of the two will help us understand what really happened to flight GAP 541."

The tragedy that befell Flight 541 of Air Philippines may be traced to the absence of radar at the Davao alternate international airport, Senators Rodolfo G. Biazon and Robert Z. Barbers said yesterday.

Biazon said there are only three airports in the Philippines - the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the Cebu alternate international airport, and the Subic airport, a former US naval facility - that have radars that can determine the altitude and direction of arriving or departing planes.

Barbers blamed national government for not pressing for the appropriations for purchase of radar in various airports during the regular public hearings by Congress of the annual national government budget.

The two senators are in agreement that the government could also be remiss in its job for failing to install life-saving radars in airports, particularly the Davao airport.