Recordings of Xiamen Air flight in NAIA runway mishap back in Manila

MANILA, Philippines – Readouts of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from Xiamen Air flight MF8667, which were brought to SIngapore on August 23, were returned to Manila last Friday, August 31, according to Philippine aviation authorities. 

Xiamen Air flight MF8667 skidded off the Ninoy Aquino International Airport runway late Thursday night, August 16. It took around 36 hours to remove the plane and resume operations on NAIA’s lone runway.

The closure of the runway cancelled, diverted, and delayed 631 flights, affected about 250,000 passengers. (READ: TIMELINE: Xiamen Air plane mishap at NAIA runway)

While Xiamen Air apologized for the runway mishap, it may have to pay at least P15 million for the accident, covering just the rental cost of the equipment used to extricate the plane from the runway. 

Despite the return of the readouts, international and Philippine aviation rules prevent authorities from disclosing the content from the data and voice recorder until a final report has been completed.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) Aircraft Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) investigators confirmed, however, the black box data recording was of good quality.

Meanwhile, CAAP’s Flight Safety Investigation Committee (CAAP-FSIC) is also conducting its own regulatory investigation to determine Xiamen Air’s civil air regulation violations.

The AAIIB and FSIC investigations are independent of each other and used to determine different things.

The AAIIB’s investigation aims to determine safety breach and is not punitive in nature.

The CAAP-FSIC investigation, meanwhile, will attempt to identify possible breaches against civil air regulations. – Rappler.com