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June
June
Unsafe History for Zest Air (Asian Spirit)
13 comments Posted in: UncategorizedTagged with aviation, boracay, philippines, safety, travel
Theres been another crash by Zest Air at the Caticlan airport that serves as entrance to Boracay. Although no-one was hurt this time, its a troubeling trend for the airliner.
In the January 2009 crash, (truly a crash), they painted over all the Zest Air markings and colors within hours of impact. Seems that almost all their cashes involve landing and I can recall one that slammed the landing on a trip Manila. Having been in 2 minor plane crashes in the past 8 years, I was surprised the Asian Spirit landing gear didnt collapse from our landing.
- 1996, April: Asian Spirit starts operations.
- 1999, Dec 7th: Let L-410 Mountainside crash near Kasibu killing all 17 pax, (Asian Spirit).
- 2002, Sep 4th: de-Havilland Dash 7 from Manila to Caticlan (Boracay) could not deploy the right-side landing gear and returned to Manila for a crash landing, (Asian Spirit).
- 2005, Nov 14th: BAe-146-200 overshot the landing and stopped in a rice paddy at Catmaran, (Asian Spirit).
- 2008, Jan 2nd: NAMC YS-11 overshot the landing and skidded off the runway in Masbate City, (Asian Spirit).
- 2009, Jan 11th: An MA-60 undershot the runway upon landing at Caticlan (Boracay), swerved sharply to the left and smashe through a concrete barrier, finally stopping parially insite of an airlines waiting lounge. Seriously crushing its nose. The plane’s landing gears and propellers also suffered major damage. Multiple injuries. (Zest Air)
- 2009, June 25th: An MA-60 overshot the runway when it landed at Caticlan, the airport serving Boracay, (Zest Air).
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Aklan execs back Caticlan airport development
BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL
(Akeanon) Development sa Caticlan Airport, gin-kwestiyun it environmental group sa Aklan / Bombo RadyoKALIBO, Aklan – Aklan Rep. Florencio Miraflores together with the provincial government are supporting the development of Godofredo P. Ramos Airport (Caticlan airport) in Malay, Aklan.
The 25-year airport development project will be tailored to handle bigger aircrafts and the incoming travellers to the famous Boracay Island.
“The development of the Caticlan airport by a private consortium Caticlan International Airport Development Corporation (CIADC) is supported by the provincial government contrary to the claims of the environmental group. Caticlan airport, once developed, caters to domestic tourists while Kalibo International Airport is seen as an international hub for visitors from the neighboring countries,” Miraflores said.
An environmental watchdog earlier is opposing the plans to lengthen the Caticlan airport runway and flattened the hill close to the airport without the necessary environmental clearance certificates (ECC).The solon stressed the airport upgrading has environmental clearance for the removal of the bordering hill at the end of the Caticlan runway. The 950 meter-long airport, he said, is restricted by the close proximity of the hill that resulted to jet-prop aircraft overshooting the runway this year.
With the airport incidents, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) officials strictly imposed the exclusive use of designated runways in compliance with international safety standards.
The “one-runway takeoff, one-runway landing” restriction also prompted the Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific to divert their Manila-Caticlan flights to Kalibo International Airport two months ago.
Aklan local leaders, in a statement, said the Caticlan airport is the solution to the problem of accessibility of Boracay Island tourists, the bulk of passengers travelled from Kalibo International Airport to Caticlan, the jump-off point to the island, for one and a half hours.
Aklan Governor Carlito Marquez said the lack of world-class transport has hindered the full development of the country’s tourism industry. He also urged the national government to prioritize tourism, one of Aklan’s development thrust, to generate jobs and to spur economic opportunities for Aklanons.
Sep 23, 2009 at 11:39 AM -
Stop Caticlan airport project, gov’t urged
Concerned environmental groups urged the Arroyo administration and Congress to stop immediately the controversial P2.5-billion international airport in Caticlan, Aklan, the airport servicing the popular resort island of Boracay.
The Earthsavers Movement and the Boracay Foundation, Inc. (BFI) said the proposed Caticlan International Airport (CIA) lacks an environmental impact assessment (EIA) and public consultations on this build-operate-transfer scheme project.
The upgrading of the airport is a State-of-the-Nation Address (SoNA) priority of President Arroyo and being pushed by beleaguered Bacolod Rep. Monico O. Puentevella. The project will be initiated by the Department of Transportation and Communications (DoTC).
In his resolution, Puentevella, House committee chairman on transportation, said that there is a need to lengthen the existing runway by leveling the hill on the eastern side of the existing Caticlan Airport aerodome.But Roger Birosel, secretary general of Earthsavers Movement said that concerned government agencies are pushing for the project without the necessary environmental clearance certificates (ECC) from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
He learned that the project proponents reportedly used the old ECC of the existing airport to fast-track the controversial project.
Birosel said that their group found out that leveling the hill, which is a climate barrier to “Amihan” rains and winds, may trigger local weather changes like rain, wind, typhoon impact.
“A sprawling mangrove will be killed as the neighboring Lupo-Lupo Lake will be filled with the earth from the leveled hill. The lake is a natural catchment for water coming down from the hill and covering it up will cause runoff water to spill into the sea and cause environmental damage to corals and even the white beaches of Boracay due to siltation,” he explained, adding that, “It will also cause flooding of the airport complex itself and the surrounding communities.”
The environmental group also learned that the present Caticlan Airport is in a particularly vulnerable site. It is adjacent to a major fault and is underlain by loose non-consolidated sediments.
Expanding or upgrading it has immitigable disaster potential, Birosel said. “High seismicity is a great threat due to high vulnerability to subsidence and liquefaction from earthquakes. What happened to Dagupan may happen here especially with the recent 6.1 earthquake off Mindoro,” he added.
Sep 23, 2009 at 11:37 AM -
I think Asian Spirit was always my favorite as well until they re-branded to Zest and the new planes, then the prices went up. Since then, I’ve been sticking to the smaller planes of PhilAir and SEAIR.
Sep 16, 2009 at 5:56 PM -
as a flight attendant i encountered different turbulence during flights,but i guess the best is still zest air..clear sky,scorching sun and great view,but the turbulence encountered its like your plane is in the middle of a battle between nature..i wont fly with this plane again..
Sep 16, 2009 at 1:08 PM -
“true..before as asian spirit the tagline was “your spirit flies with us” now as zest air “the most dangerous airline” so you still want to fly?
Sep 16, 2009 at 1:05 PM -
We will appreciate all the info re caticlan airport as 1-UTAK party list intends to really dig deep into this problem.
Aug 15, 2009 at 11:22 PM -
Good day!
Jul 23, 2009 at 12:45 PM
caticlan airport has no extension runway. it’s only 810 meters runway. president gloria gave 40 million pesos in 2003 for caticlan airport. the provincial gov’t did the job. in 2004, they reported that the caticlan airport is already 950 meters. they included in the project runway extension that never happened. i can proved this because i am from caticlan and i was a pupil of caticlan elementary school just beside the airport runway. I saw sometimes in 1998 that the runway was cemented already from edge to edge. how come they reported that the airport extended already?our lot is in the edge of the airport. we were been told that we are terrorist because we are not complying to their law. they want our trees cut down, all of it. if they will cut it down, our land will be useless as nothing. so we never agree with them. the only airport in phillipines which has 810 meters cemented runway without extension. runway. but it was catering almost half a million every year before the CAAP intervene. funny, right? -
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international standards? Last time I landed, the props were still in idle-down spin and the runway staff were walking with their heads within 2 feet of the blades.
Jul 4, 2009 at 4:07 AM -
Group seeks House probe of Caticlan airport accidents….
PARTY-LIST group United Transport Koalisyon (1-Utak) is seeking a congressional inquiry into the series of accidents at the Caticlan airport in Aklan since 2005, which resulted in injuries to 26 persons, mostly tourists going to Boracay Island.
Party-list Rep. Vigor Mendoza II of 1-Utak has filed House Resolution 1208 urging the House Committees on Transportation and on Tourism to conduct an inquiry, in aid of legislation, into the causes of civil-aviation accidents to determine the airport’s compliance with international aviation safety standards, as well as its available rescue services.
Jul 3, 2009 at 7:46 PM -
Zest Air…..”Come Crash With Us!” I will never fly zest (aka Asian Spirit) again. Screw the frequent crashing miles!
Jun 28, 2009 at 4:56 PM -
Prospero, thanks for all the information! Yes, it is indeed interesting about that runway and the airport in general. My personal belief is that that there are powerful people making a lot of money by having all the traffic leave Caticlan and move to Kalibo. They are spending a lot of money investing in Kalibo already and it’s too coincidental the other airlines all declared the same day they were no longer doing flights to there.
Those airplanes are designed for the short runway. It has to be pilot error, not the runway. But its very interesting what you said about the 40 million in funding that disappeared.
Again, thanks for the input and for stopping by!
Jul 26, 2009 at 2:02 PM
I don’t remember the Boracay Foundation complaining while an entire mountainside was removed and permanent structures erected in the sea for Shangri La. I recall there being a shit-load of runoff coming from that project for a while.
Sep 23, 2009 at 12:41 PM