Xiamen Air black box decoded; results with CAAP

MANILA, Philippines — The decoding of the contents of the black box and flight data recorder (FDR) of Xiamen Air flight MF8667 that were brought to Singapore is already done, but its results could not be revealed until the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) completes its investigation, an officer of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said.

Eric Apolonio, CAAP spokesman, confirmed in a text message that the box and the FDR, which were sent to Singapore for analysis, were flown back to the country last Friday.

“(The analysis) was submitted to the AAIIB to match with the interview and earlier investigation of the flight crew,” Apolonio said. “The AAIIB needs the full records of the pilots and the service records of the aircraft… that will be the most important (detail) in this investigation.” 

He is not sure though when the aircraft accident probers could finish their investigation on Xiamen Air flight MF8667, which skidded off the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) runway 06/24 shortly before midnight of Aug. 16. The incident led to flight cancellations, diversions and delays, stranding thousands of airline passengers after the airport authorities closed the runway.

Apolonio said the analysis includes the transcription of conversations between the MF8667 pilots and Manila control tower, and the condition of the plane before it skidded off the NAIA runway.

The CAAP-AAIIB investigators confirmed that the black box data recording was of good quality, but added that international and Philippine aviation rules prevented them from revealing the contents until after the final report is submitted to authorities.

Apolonio said both the Xiamen pilot in command and the first officer flew back home last Thursday.

Aside from the AAIIB, the CAAP-FSIC (Flight Safety Investigation Committee) is also conducting its own regulatory investigation to determine possible civil air regulation violations of Xiamen Air.

The AAIIB’s and FSIC’s investigations are completely independent of each other. That of AAIIB is meant to identify safety breaches and is not punitive in nature, while that of FSIC aims to determine possible breaches against civil air regulations.