The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines announced on Monday that it will come out with the final report of its probe in connection with the Chinese commuter jet that overshot the main runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Aug. 16.
This developed shortly after the readout of the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder of the disabled Xiamen Air flight MF-8667 has finally arrived in Manila from Singapore last Friday.
CAAP chief information officer and spokesperson Eric Apolonio said under international and Philippine aviation rules, substantial content of the FDR and CVR readouts still cannot be disclosed until the final report.
The CAAP Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board investigators confirmed that the black box data recording was of good quality.
“The CAAP-AAIIB will release an official report once the investigation and analysis are concluded,” said Apolonio.
He added that the black box, which was sent to Singapore for analysis, was already submitted to the AAIIB “to match with the interview and earlier investigation of the flight crew.”
The AAIIB personnel—Rommel Ronda and Renier Baculinao—were instructed by CAAP Director General Capt. Jim Sydiongco to hasten their investigation and told “he wants results as soon as possible.”
Two weeks ago, the AAIIB officials brought with them the device to Singapore get all the information they want to know, particularly the conversations between the pilots and personnel of the Manila Control Tower, and the status of the Boeing 737-800 prior to its landing at the runway 06-24 during heavy downpour.
Simultaneously, the CAAP Flight Safety Investigation Committee is also conducting its own regulatory investigation to determine civil air regulation violations of Xiamen Airlines, in reference to the accident.
Apolonio said the AAIIB’s and FSIC’s investigations are completely independent and separate from each other.
The AAIIB’s investigation is meant to identify safety breaches and is not punitive in nature, while the FSIC investigation aims to determine possible breaches against civil air regulations.
The CAAP initially came out with a result of the drug test on two pilots as standard requirements by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
“The results of the drug tests were negative,” Sydiongco said.
“The pilot in command or the captain is a Korean male, who is 50 years old and has a grand total time of 16,000 flying hours with 7,000 hours on the Boeing B737-800 aircraft type. The First Officer or the co-pilot is a Chinese male, 28 years old, with a grand total time of 950 flying hours and 750 hours on the Boeing B737-800 aircraft type,” he added.
The pilots sustained no injuries; however, both were required to undergo post-flight accident medical examination by the CAAP.
Sydiongco said the two pilots were summoned by the aviation regulator to explain their side, and had told them to what actually happened after the aircraft landed in a heavy downpour.
The Xiamen aircraft encountered runway excursion before midnight of Aug. 16, and caused thousands of passengers stranded at the NAIA after the incident because of cancellation, diversion of flights, and delays.
Runway excursion is the aviation term for aircraft that skidded off the runway.
The incident also blocked larger aircraft like Boeing B747, B787, Airbus A330, A340, as well as A350.
The CAAP is closely working together with Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the airline operators in creating proactive measures in order to prevent an event like this from happening.