VOR navigation system conks out: NAIA "crisis" hits Manila-Cebu flights

CEBU, Philippines - At least six domestic flights of the Cebu Pacific Air serving the Manila-Cebu-Manila route were cancelled after the communication system of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila conked out yesterday.

The technical problem also delayed four Philippine Airlines flights serving the same route.  

Engineer Lito Casaul of the Civil Aeronautics Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), who was duty officer at the Manila air control tower yesterday, said that a VOR or very high frequency omni-directional range broke down at around 7:30 a.m.

The CAAP had then issued a notice to airmen (NOTAM) regarding the problem received by all airlines operating out of the NAIA.

“We’re still working on it right now,” Casaul told the Star in a phone interview yesterday afternoon.

Casaul said that the VOR problem had already resulted to Cebu Pacific from canceling its night-time domestic and international flights.

Casaul declined to identify foreign airlines that had also resorted to cancellation of flights on fears that the VOR will not be repaired in time for sundown.

“The cancellations will come after sundown,” Casaul said.

Gylane Imbang, MCIA terminal operations assistant, said that Cebu Pacific flights 5J 569, 5J 570, 5J 575, 5J 576, 5J 579 and 5J 582 were cancelled.

Imbang said flight 5J 569 was supposed to arrive at MCIA from Manila at 5:05 p.m. but it was cancelled due to the technical problem.

Automatically, the following turnaround flight which was supposed to depart for Manila at 5:35 p.m. was also cancelled.

Flight 5J 576, which was supposed to depart for Manila at 6:30 p.m. was cancelled and the turnaround flight, which was supposed to arrive at MCIA at 9:30 p.m., was also automatically cancelled.

Flight 5J 579, which was supposed to arrive at MCIA at 10:45 p.m. cancelled, was also cancelled as well as the turnaround flight, which was supposed to depart for Manila at 11:15 pm.

The delayed PAL flights were PR 863, PR 864, PR 855 and PR 850.

Imbang, however, said the international flights were not affected.

The VOR is a radio navigation system which helps in directing aircrafts to the runway, especially at night.

Another facility called Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) had also reportedly bogged down, aside from the hobbled VOR.

A DME is a radio navigation technology that provides distance by measuring the time that it takes for a transmission sent from an aircraft to a ground-based transmitter to return.

Meanwhile, CAAP director general Alfonso Cusi assured that the equipment breakdown will only affect nighttime operations, and would only delay evening and early morning flights.

Cusi said airport technicians are rushing to fix the problem before sunset. However, he cautioned that if the equipment trouble does not get solved within the day, operations could only resume at the airport at 8 a.m. today.

 Casaul later revealed that the VOR has not yet been repaired. However, he said that they were hoping to fit it by 6:30 p.m.

“It’s really the call of the airlines if they think the problem will not be fixed,” Casaul said.

   Casaul explained that the VIOR was “critical at nighttime because we don’t have the primary source of visibility which is sunlight”.

It will be recalled that the CAAP Employees Union late last year had called attention to the unreliability of the navigational aids (navaids) and equipments in most of the country’s airports due to the failure of the CAAP management to attend to their calibration which they said is supposed to be done quarterly.

This failure was cited as the reason for the CAAP-Eu’s call for the ouster of then director general Ruben Ciron whom they had also complained of bringing in and appointment to highly technical positions at the CAAP his fellow retired military generals and officers despite their lack of familiarity and expertise on air tower control and operations.

 Ciron, it will be recalled, had earlier been ordered replaced by Cusi.   (FREEMAN NEWS)