Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE
All 131 people on board an Air Philippines Boeing 737-200Adv died when the twinjet crashed into a hill on approach to Davao in the southern Philippines on 19 April.
The 22-year-old aircraft (RP-C3010) was operating flight GAP 541 from Manila to Davao with 124 passengers and seven crew when it hit the hill at 1,475ft (450m) in poor visibility 8km (5nm) from the runway. The aircraft was destroyed.
A Philippine Airlines flight landed on Davao's runway 05 in marginal visibility at 06:52 local time, 4min before GAP 541 carried out a go-around from the same approach because of traffic on the runway.
After the go-around at 06:56, the crew asked if the wind velocity would allow an approach to the reciprocal runway 23 and was cleared for that option, which involves an approach over Samal Island in the Davao Gulf. At 07:01, the crew reported the aircraft was 7nm (distance measuring equipment reading) from the airport. Two minutes later a radio call from air traffic control to GAP 541 was not acknowledged.
The flight data and cockpit voice recorders have been recovered.
Source: Flight International
