A long times ago I warned the Victorina council regarding the airworthiness of Zest Air’s MA60. I even told ABS-CBN’s RG Cruz that the Chinese made MA6o that were being sold cheaply to third-world countries like Zimbabwe, Congo, Zambia, Laos, Indonesia, Bolivia and other countries and Africa is bad news. During a raffle, I was given a free round trip ticket to Caticlan but I never bothered to use it.
Yesterday, Zest Airways flight Z2-863 overshot the runway at Caticlan prompting the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) to close the airport. Investigators are now verifying eyewitnesses’ reports that the plane landed almost at the middle of the 1,050-meter- long runway. Just last January, another MA60 plane overshot the runway. Reports said strong winds caused the aircraft’s landing gear to explode, hitting the airport fence. After swerving 180 degrees, the plane was, with registry number RP-C8893 crashed into the airport’s passenger lounge.
Zest Air owner Alfredo Yao said the MA60 plane with tail number RPC 8992 exceeded the runway of GodofredoRamosAirport in Caticlan, Aklan because of the abnormal weather.
There were no reported injuries among the passengers, comprising of 50 adults, four children and one infant. The passengers were evacuated from the plane by the responding airport rescue team and were ferried to the terminal by bus. Caticlan is the seventh busiest airport in the Philippines and the third busiest in Western Visayas. It is also the hub of Southeast Asian Airlines serving the most destinations in and out of the neighboring Malay, Aklan.
Gokongwei-led Cebu Pacific Air Inc., canceled some of its Caticlan flights because of the Zest Air incident. The trustworthy SEAIR, diverted some of its 12 Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights after CAAP closed the airport. PAL Express, also canceled its six Manila-Caticlan-Manila flights while mounting extra flights to Kalibo to accommodate their affected passengers.
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