CAAP has posted a whole bunch of downloads, click here for more information ..

The latest Omni Rate Schedule is available here

Aviation safety rate: One accident for every 1.4 million flights

Air travel has been getting increasingly frustrating, with fees, crowds and other hassles, but passengers may be glad to know that 2009 was a banner year for aviation safety.

The year's accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft was the second lowest in modern aviation history -- just behind 2006, according to a new report by the International Air Transport Association. The group started keeping records in 1964.

"It's the airlines continuing to invest in training and technology on the aircraft," said Steve Lott, the group's head of communications for North America.

"We like to remind passengers that they are still in very safe hands. Aviation is still the safest form of transportation, and looking at the statistics, it's still very rare and growing increasingly rare that we see any accidents."

In 2009, the global accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft equaled to one accident for every 1.4 million flights, the air transport group found.

To put it another way, if you were to take a flight every day, odds are you could go 3,859 years without an accident, according to the group's report.

When accidents did happen last year, pilot handling was a contributing factor in 30 percent of the cases, showing how important the human element is to aviation safety, Lott said.

"How do we improve that? It really comes down to training," he said.

Runway excursions, such as the December incident when an American Airlines jet overran a runway in Kingston, Jamaica, accounted for 26 percent of accidents in 2009.

Ground damage accounted for a 10th of accidents last year. How do those happen? One example is when a catering or fuel truck runs into a plane parked at the gate, causing damage and flight cancellations, Lott said.

The 2009 accident rate was significantly higher on Eastern-built aircraft, or those made in Russia and China, but flights on those planes represent about 2 percent of all flights around the world, Lott said.

The story of Clara Adams one of the Pioneering Women in Aviation, not as a pilot, but as a passenger .

This is a power point Presentation covering the story of Clara Adams one of the Pioneering Women in Aviation, not as a pilot, but as a passenger. Some Fantastic Photos of Flying Boats and The Zepplins, inside and outside.

Spend some time looking at this, a great insight to a world of aviation that is long gone ..

A PHILIPPINE-BASED airline said on Tuesday it will this month become the latest low-fare carrier to launch services between Manila and Singapore, adding to the competition in the struggling sector.
Zest Air will start the service from Jan 29 using a brand new Airbus A320 aircraft, it said in a statement.
Unlike other low-fare carriers, Zest Air said it will offer free inflight meals and snacks and a baggage allowance of 30kg per passenger.
A one-way ticket for the new route will carry an introductory price of US$72 (S$100), it said.
The airline, which lists prominent Filipino businessmen on its board of directors, currently flies from Manila to 19 domestic destinations in the Philippines.

This is a comment posted on one of my blog entries. It is very relevant to Philippine Aviation, so I reposted it. The original comment can be found here ..

Read the full post and comments here ...

 SIL (Southern Institute of Languages) is a ministry of Wycliffe Bible Translators and they are the owners of the compound at Bagabag. 

 Cebu Pacific needs 250 female flight attendantshttp://tr.im/lR0g

The "Philippine Mars" is a flying boat used as a water bomber. Its deployment this year, plus the other "Mars" Flying boats can be read here.

 AIR links between Singapore and the Philippines have been expanded to allow for more flights between the two countries.

For travellers, this should result in more choices and hopefully, lower fares.

Under the new agreement which was inked following two days of air talks, Singapore carriers will be able to fly an additional 16 weekly Airbus 320 services to and from Manila.

The same entitlements have been accorded to Philippine carriers.

In addition, Singapore and Philippine carriers will also have greater access to and from other city points in the Philippines, such as Cebu, Davao and Clark.

Currently, airlines on both sides together operate more than 100 weekly services between the two countries - maximising the number of flights allowed under the previous air deal which was signed in August 2001.

Traffic between the Philippines and Singapore has grown by an average of 17 per cent annually since 2004.

Despite the global economic and traffic downturn, traffic grew last year by 12 per cent.

MOT said: 'This is no mean feat considering the decline of 2.2 per cent in international passenger traffic across the Asia-Pacific region.'

Its deputy-secretary (international) Lee Yuen Hee, who led the Singapore team in the negotiations said: 'The expanded agreement between Singapore and the Philippines demonstrates the commitment of both countries to develop closer aviation ties.

'The increased air services would further promote people-to-people ties, boost tourism and enhance bilateral economic relations.'

 TUGUEGARAO CITY – Forty-two members of the team that retrieved the seven bodies from the ill-fated ChemTrad plane in Mt. Alas Diyes in Sitio (sub-village) Bayang in Baggao, Cagayan, remained stranded on Thursday because of floods from swollen rivers in the area.

Melchito Castro, regional civil defense chief, said the heavy rains triggered by the tail end of a cold front in Northern Luzon delayed the team’s return here.

He said two Huey helicopters that were supposed to airlift the team members failed to land in a designated pickup area because of the foul weather.

On Tuesday, Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director, called off plans to airlift the members from the site where the twin-engine Islander owned by ChemTrad Aviation Corp. crashed. He said the “erratic” weather had made flying over the area very risky.

Damian, who is also chairman of the Cagayan Valley regional disaster coordinating council (RDCC), lauded the bravery and proficiency of Air Force pilots who flew into bad weather over the Sierra Madre mountains on Monday morning in what he described as a daring retrieval operation.

“I can say that though we have the best pilots around, who have the guts to fly the harshest missions, we just cannot take any more risks,” he said, halting plans of additional sorties to the site on Tuesday to get the rescuers.

The Britten-Norman BN2 plane, known as Islander, crashed in Mt. Alas Diyes in Sitio Bayang in Baggao on April 2, minutes after it took off from the airport here for Maconacon town in Isabela.

Rescuers found the wreckage only on April 14, 12 days after it was reported missing.

The pilot, Captain Tomas Z. Yañez, co-pilot Captain Reiner Ruiz, and passengers Senior Police Officer 2 Rolly Castaños, Celestino Salacup, Abelardo Baggay, Joel Basilio, and James Bakilan, died in the crash.

The retrieval of their bodies capped more than two weeks of search and rescue operations deep in the mountains of Sierra Madre.

Captain Mannie Barradas, ChemTrad owner and board chairman, said the crash site was 5,000 meters above sea level, on a thickly-forested ridge with a 60-degree slope.

Because airlifting them from the site was no longer possible, rescuers would have to walk for another day and a half to a river below the mountains where it was safer for them to be ferried by a helicopter, he said.

The rescuers, including mountaineers, and village volunteers, hiked for three to four days to reach the site.

 THE Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) could have access to another runway besides runway 06-24, provided the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) provides a special form of runway lights costing about P5 million.

Director General Ruben Ciron of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) made this statement in the wake of Miaa General Manager Alfonso Cusi’s suggestion that runway 13-31 should be used by smaller aircraft classified as belonging to “general aviation [GenAv].”

Cusi made the suggestion to decongest international runway 06-24, and also to avoid its temporary closure during emergencies or accidents.

The Naia’s main runway was closed for three hours on Sunday after a light aircraft, belonging to the Care Jet Co. of the United States, aborted its takeoff about 8 p.m. when its landing gears erupted in fire and smoke.

The aircraft stopped in the middle of the runway, while responding firefighters prevented the fire from spreading.

No one among the four persons onboard were hurt, including the pilot, copilot and two medical assistants.

The Cessna jet flew in from Guam at 6 p.m. Sunday with a patient onboard, seeking medical treatment in the Philippines.

Due to the accident, scores of arriving international and domestic flights were diverted to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark, Pampanga. Normal operations at the Naia resumed at 11 p.m.

The Miaa chief, not wanting a repeat of the debacle, has suggested to the Naia Time Slotting Committee to review the scheduling of small aircraft, weighing 25,000 kilograms or below, by directing them to domestic runway 13-31.

“Aircraft like these are usually owned by operators at our GenAv and, therefore, would be most logical to make them use the domestic runway for landing and take-off. In so doing, we can maximize the use of the international runway for commercial operations,” Cusi added.

When asked to comment about the incident, Ciron said that air-traffic controllers assigned the Westwind II aircraft to take off on runway 06-24 since runway 13-31 is only used by light aircraft during daytime, or when good weather condition prevails.

“One of the solutions to decongest runway 06-24 is to convert runway 13-31 into an instrument runway,” Ciron said in a letter to Cusi on April 16.

“Instrument runways” could be used at day- or nighttime or during bad weather when pilots could use the navigational aids, such as the distance-measuring equipment, and the very high-frequency Omni-directional range, to land and take off safely.

However, before the domestic runway could be made into an all-weather runway, Ciron suggested that Cusi install in it a Runway Threshold Identification Light “to complete the airfield lighting system requirements for such runway.”

The Caap chief said a New Zealand aviation company, which also conducted flight checks in scores of provincial airports, had already subjected runway 13-31 to several flight checks. “The Caap had already designed the approach chart of runway 13 and had finished the corresponding flight checks,” Ciron said, adding that the foreign aviation experts have declared the runway safe for instrument approach.

The domestic runway used to be an instrument runway about 10 years ago, but was temporarily decommissioned after several tall buildings on Roxas Boulevard were built, disrupting the radio signals from the navigational aids.

The buildings were aligned with the domestic runway, and the radio signals coming from the navigational aids tended to be disrupted due to the buildings’ interference, Ciron said.

A decade ago, the then-Air Transportation Office sued the owners of the buildings for violation of aviation rules, forcing them to reduce the height of the concrete and glass buildings.

However, some of them remain at heights in violation of Caap rules, which made the nav-aids ineffective and dangerous to use, since their signals could mislead pilots.

Lately, Ciron has led the move to restore runway 13-31 to an all-weather runway, seeking the cooperation of the Miaa for a joint effort, so that the Naia could have two instrument runways and reduce the congestion that is now the bane of the 30-member Airline Operators Council.

The Caap has realigned the angle of radio signals for the safe use of pilots landing on the domestic airport, in conjunction with the proposed threshold lighting system.

Despite this, however, the domestic airport would remain a “nonprecision” runway due to the absence of an “instrument landing system,” which only runway 06-24 is equipped at the moment.

The presence of the tall buildings on the approach of the domestic runway would never allow an ILS to be installed there, Ciron told the BusinessMirror.

 IT is well that  Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Alfonso Cusi has given “additional guidance” to the Naia Time Slotting Committee to give priority to review the scheduling of small-aircraft flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia), in light of recurring problems of runway congestion that aggravate an already problematic situation for aviation in general.

Cusi recently asked Gen. Ruben Ciron, chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP),  “to consider the utilization of Naia’s domestic runway, runway 13-31, during daytime for aircraft weighing 25,000 kilograms and below.” 

He explained the rationale for the decision: “Aircraft like these are usually owned by operators at our general aviation, therefore, would be most logical to make them use the domestic runway for landing and takeoff. In so doing, we can maximize the use of the international runway for commercial operations.” 

The Philippines is the only Asian country that has only one international runway (runway 24) at its premier airport, thus disrupting so many international flights when even just a single incident occurs on that runway. 

In the latest incident, Cusi reported that at about 8 p.m. on Sunday, a Westwind-II aircraft with registry number N-911GU aborted takeoff at Naia’s international runway after the pilot noticed smoke emanating from its left wheel. Rescue teams were quickly deployed to the site, but heavy rains delayed their work.

But whether the rains are pouring or not, the fact that there’s only one international runway is a real constraint. 

Disruptions to flights owing to this congestion compound the already problematic situation in general, as this paper’s aviation reporter, Recto Mercene, had long been writing about. As a result, air-traffic control has to use a “bag of tricks” in order to ensure the safety of all flights going into and out of Manila, i.e., imposing longer separation times between flights during peak seasons or holidays like Christmas and New Year. Again, the bottom line: Flights are delayed because—rightly so—air-traffic controllers must pick safety over convenience. 

But the point is that if the necessary hardware are budgeted for and actually installed, so many of the problems faced by aviation personnel could be reduced. For instance, in Sunday night’s fiasco, it turns out the air ambulance was not an exception: Small aircraft are routinely deployed to runway 24 (the sole international runway) because domestic runway 13-31 cannot be used after sundown. The excuse: It’s “not an instrument runway,” and can only be used for visual flight rules. Sources said efforts to install an instrument system at runway 13-31 ran into technical snags a few years ago, and no one, it seems, has bothered to review the problem.

And, speaking of personnel, it’s been nearly a year since Congress passed the CAAP law, but the latest word is that reforms to boost staffing morale and competence are proceeding slowly. The problem of getting, training and keeping competent airmen is thus something that won’t go away soon.

Taken together, these persistent problems are bound to affect our status as an aviation center—or derail hopes to reverse the dismal Category 2 status imposed by international bodies.

Reacting to Cusi’s move to review the runway slotting system, MIAA Airport Development and Corporate Affairs Assistant General Manager Tirso Serrano was quoted saying: “This move is intended to likewise increase terminal capacities for Naia Terminals 1, 2 and 3. With the recent opening of NAIA Terminal 3, we have increased our potential to 32 million passengers a year.” Between that potential and fruition is a wide chasm that requires, among others: the political will and a clear, unified vision among turf-conscious aviation agencies, and the budget to obtain crucial hardware and pay aviation personnel salaries they deserve.

 April 9, 1942. That’s a date 87-year-old Billy D. Templeton would like to erase from his memory. But he can’t.
The atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Army, which began that day on the Baatan Peninsula in the Philippines and continued for Templeton three and one-half years as a prisoner of war, are vividly etched in his mind some 67 years later.
Billy was one of about 76,000 American and Filipino prisoners forced to trudge through blistering heat to prisons some 80 torturous miles away. They became prisoners April 9 when Maj. Gen. Edward King Jr. formally surrendered to a Japanese force of 54,000. 
Tagged the Bataan Death March, the infamous walk is known for its brutality, executions and inhumane treatment. Thousands died before reaching the end of the line.
Billy, an Army Air Corps radio operator with the 19th Bomb Group, was one of the prisoners.
In an interview at his Lee’s Summit home, Billy says it was “hope” that got him through the weeklong ordeal.
“You had to think you were going to make it; otherwise, you could give in,” he says pausing. “What was your alternative?”
Billy, whose military career began in 1939 as a 17-year-old, made aviation history on Nov. 3, 1941, when he landed at Clark Field on Luzon Island in the Philippines in one of the  26 history-making B-17 bombers.
Why all the hype about a mission that resulted in Billy and all the other participants receiving the Air Medal?
This marked the first time a mass flight of heavy bombers had attempted to fly from the West Coast of the United States to the Philippines.
“In those days, planes were moved long distances over water by ship,” Billy explains, noting the 26 “Flying Fortresses” were dispatched to beef up bases in the Philippines in case hostilities erupted in the Pacific.
One month later, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and Clark Field, destroying numerous B-17s – including Billy’s bomber. War had come to the Pacific.
Following the attack, a radio group in Headquarters Squadron – of which Billy was a member – received orders to assist the Signal Corps. So, on Christmas Eve 1941, a contingent of 13 men left Clark Field and set up a radio communications shack in the jungles on the  Bataan peninsular.
With the small detachment suffering from lack of food, dysentery, malaria and beriberi, the men were not ready for what faced them – the Japanese invasion of Baatan, which led to the capture of Billy and his companion Glenn.
Unarmed and trying to cross a jungle road, Billy and Glenn encountered two armed Japanese soldiers who captured them without firing a shot.
“They pointed in the direction they wanted us to go, and with a rifle butt to the kneecap, we headed out,” Billy recalls.
As they walked along the dusty road, Billy and Glenn saw more Japanese rounding up other prisoners who had surrendered and searching them for valuables.
“We joined the larger group,” he says, recalling everything of value was taken off them except their canteens, which were full. “We didn’t realize that such a small thing could be the difference between life and death in the coming days.”
With atrocities occurring one after another – sometimes hourly – it didn’t take long to figure out that only the strong, obedient and fittest would survive.
Some of the soldiers carried swords and used them to behead those who disobeyed their orders. Others found with Japanese currency, guns or knives in their possession were executed on the spot. There was no mercy.
Marching four abreast, Billy says it was instant death for anyone who couldn’t keep up or fell out of line. To  keep that from happening, the weak were put  between the strong.
Keeping the weak in the middle for support wasn’t foolproof, though. Once, a captain suffering from malaria fell out of rank and into a ditch. While kneeling and pleading for his life, a guard executed him.
Executions were common and carried out in many sickening ways. Like the man who was stabbed, strung to a tree and “used for bayonet practice.”
Even villagers weren’t immune.
Billy remembers villagers tossing rice balls wrapped in leaves to the weary prisoners passing by their bamboo huts when the guards weren’t looking. 
Touched by what he saw, Billy’s joy turned into sorrow and fear when an observant guard spotted one of the tossed rice balls in flight. He entered a house, killed the occupants and came out wiping blood off his bayonet.
Walking on dusty roads in 100-degree heat, the hot, dirty, smelly prisoners lived in their own squalor. There were no bathroom breaks.
 Death was everywhere, Billy says, recalling the stench of death, infection and other smells “stung their senses,” as did the rancid, decaying bodies strewn on and along the “road to hell.” 
  At Capas, the exhausted prisoners were jammed into boxcars and taken to Camp O’Donnell, where the only source of water for some 9,300 prisoners was from a single spigot. They remained there four months before boarding a “hell ship” for their final destination – Manchuria, where they spent the rest of the war doing slave labor. 

For the rest of the story, read “Manila Bay Sunset: The Long March Into Hell.” Written by Billy Templeton, the 144-page soft-cover book has been called “a  moving story of survival and personal triumph.”
Published in 2006 by River Road Press of Laguna Vista, Texas, “Manila Bay Sunset” is available for $15.95. To purchase a copy, call the author at 816-373-6983 or go to www.manilibaysunset.com.

 Bad weather continues to hamper rescuers from retrieving the bodies of the seven passengers from the ill-fated Chemtrad private plane, a police official said on Friday.

Retrieval teams on board helicopters encountered bad weather at around 3 p.m., prompting them to turn back, said Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley regional director.

Three helicopters, one with lift and hoist capabilities, were unable to drop equipment and food supplies to the retrievers as strong winds and low clouds prevented the choppers from making a steady hover over the bivouac area of the retrievers, Damian said.

The 54 rescuers from the Philippine National Police, the Philippine Army, and local government officials are now in the area.

The Chemtrad light plane (tail no. 764) was found on a heavily-forested slope in Sitio (sub-village) Bayang, Barangay (village) San Miguel in Baggao town after it went missing last April 2.

Onboard were Captains Tomas Yañez and Reiner Ruiz, the pilot and co-pilot, Senior Police Officer 2 Rolly Castaños, Celestino Salacup, Abelardo Baggay, Joel Basilio and James Bakilan.

The plane and its crew were bound for Maconacon town in Isabela province.

 MANILA, Philippines--(UPDATE) Police and local government officials spotted in the northern province of Isabela Friday morning the private plane that went missing with seven people on board, a police official said.

The Chemtrad light plane with tail number 764 that suddenly went missing in the province of Isabela Thursday morning was spotted by police rescue teams from Maconacon town between the villages of Flores and Riena Mercedez, said Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, police regional office 2, director.

Damian said they have no information yet if the seven passengers, including a policeman, are alive, adding low visibility prevented a police team from pursuing the rescue operation.

However, rescue teams from nearby Divilacan and Maconacon towns have now been dispatched to the area to verify the report, he said.

Earlier, Damian said they have received reports that the light plane made an emergency landing in an air strip owned by American missionaries in Valley Cove in Baggao town.

The private plane piloted by Captain Tomas Yañez went missing after it took off from the Tuguegarao Airport at 8 a.m. Thursday. The plane was bound for Maconacon town in Isabela but it did not reach its destination.

The plane had seven passengers: Captains Yañez and Ruiz (pilot and co-pilot), Senior Police Officer 2 Rolly Castaños, Celestino Salacup, Abelardo Baggay, Joel Basilio and James Bakilan.

Damian earlier said that the weather condition in the provinces was rainy

 TUGUEGARAO, Philippines (AP) — Philippine police have declared missing a small aircraft with seven people aboard after it failed to arrive at a northern town.