Airport accident probe results in two weeks

Results of the investigation on the accident at the Davao International Airport will be disclosed in the next two weeks, an official said yesterday.

"The official statement from the CAAP will be out between June 20 and June 24," John C. Andrews, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) deputy director-general, said in a phone interview.

He also confirmed the arrival of the flight data recorder of Cebu Pacific Flight 5J-971 today from Singapore where it was examined. The recorder was brought to Singapore on June 9 by Cebu Pacific and CAAP representatives.

Mr. Andrews said CAAP will continue with its probe with the available contents of the flight data recorder.

"We expect to see what actually happened… There would be a lot of things that has to be interpellated and analyzed," he said.

Mr. Andrews reiterated pilot error as possible cause of the accident.

"As I’ve mentioned before, all evidences we have seem to lead to human factor, the most likely cause [of the accident]," he added.

On June 2, a Cebu Pacific Airbus A-320 veered off runway 23 of the Davao International Airport forcing the facility’s closure and causing millions of pesos in business losses. No one was hurt among the 165 passengers of the aircraft, which was removed on June 4 with full operations of the airport resumed the next day.