Loakan Airport: Going to the dogs

Disaster, they say, does not respect time, place, nor people. It comes like a thief in the night. Loakan Airport in Baguio City, among many others, is one disaster just waiting to happen anytime. Just the morning after the crash-landing in Tanauan, a Philippine Air Force training aircraft en route to Clark for navigation training crashed in the Atok Trail killing all four people on board. The Cessna 172 just took off from the Loakan airport.

Bad weather is the cause of most crashes in Loakan mainly due to the lack of an Instrument Landing System (ILS) – a radionavigation precision-approach system that provides aircraft with horizontal and vertical guidance just before and during landing. At certain fixed points, the ILS indicates the distance to the reference point of landing. Like Noah’s Ark – carabaos, cows, dogs, sheep, other livestock, including pedestrians – cross the runway. Supposedly this is under control when a siren is sounded off to stop all traffic on the runway when an aircraft is on its final approach. The question is: Are the animals trained to understand this? Obviously not – because a near-disaster happened to us.

A couple of years ago, we had a close call at Loakan Airport when we were about to land. We were with some business associates for a business conference in Baguio aboard PLDT’s King Air turboprop. As our aircraft was about to make its final approach – Captain Sanchez jolted us when he shouted, "There’s a dog on the runway!" I could see a mangy street dog crossing the 1,680-meter runway directly in front of the aircraft. At that point, the pilot only had two choices: either he pulls up and risk an engine stall or he lands abruptly with the possibility of the landing gear collapsing. Weighing his options – the pilot chose to land. All of us just braced ourselves for a hard landing. I was halfway through the Lord’s Prayer when the dog just nonchalantly skipped away from the plane’s path, totally unmindful of the disaster it had almost caused. After a safe landing, the plane, all five of us and the crew were none the worse for the wear. For the first time, I felt like following Pope John Paul II and kiss the ground we walk on.

I am told there have been similar incidents of near mishaps at Loakan. When Joseph Estrada was president, he loathed the idea of landing at this airport with a fixed-wing aircraft. In fact today, the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and Air Force pilots refuse to fly GMA to Loakan except by presidential helicopter. Maybe, the concern for flight safety is the main reason why Philippine Airlines refuses to include the summer capital on their list of flight destinations.

Loakan airport is not the only airstrip with a sword hanging over air travelers’ heads. Caticlan airport near Boracay is another disaster waiting to happen. The Caticlan runway needs to be lengthened extensively. Baguio and Boracay are prime tourist destinations and a fatal air crash with a planeload of tourists could spell the end of these prime tourist spots.

Bacolod’s airport in Silay was an example of criminal neglect when a tall building was built at the very end of its runway. After getting repeated calls from safety-conscious pilots, aviation authorities finally requested the local government to convince the owners to pare down the building by several floors. In the first place, how could height limits near airports be overlooked by the local government? The structure simply shouldn’t have been given a permit to build. It’s bad enough that we have to contend with a host of problems. Now, we have to worry about dogs prancing on runways.

And talking about airports, there is the problem of airport security. Sometimes our domestic airport has only a single functional metal detector. The Air Transport Office (ATO) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) should consider buying more metal detectors and having the old ones fixed. More important, regular security readiness tests should be conducted on control tower security to avoid the embarrassing and ludicrous November 2003 takeover of NAIA’s control tower. If the White House and the US Capitol had a plane scare a couple of weeks ago, you can be sure the Philippines – being on the terrorists’ list – could have its major airports as a target.

In its 2004 to 2005 action plan, the DOTC’s main thrust is to open additional international gateways. Some of the areas being eyed by the department are: Clark/Subic as a center for logistics; San Fernando Airport as a gateway for Northern Luzon; the maintenance of the Mactan-Cebu Airport; and the Full International Operation of the Davao Airport. In addition, DOTC plans to increase the capacity of the country’s international airports such as the Zamboanga International Airport and the Laoag International Airport, which could serve as the country’s northern and southern gateways.

More important, the action plan also includes the construction and improvement of existing domestic airports. Those eyed for construction are the New Bohol Airport in Paglao Island and the El Nido Airport in Palawan. Lined up for rehabilitation and improvement are the airports in Bagabag, Busuanga, Siarga, and Caticlan. High yield airports such as those in Iloilo, Bacolod, Tacloban, and Laguindingan are also eyed for improvement. These projects are included in DOTC’s medium term plan and are expected to be competed by 2009. Domestic Airports are also part of the DOTC’s six year agenda. A new site is being studied for the construction of a new Legaspi Airport while the development of existing airports in Puerto Prin-cesa, Cotabato, Dipolog, Butuan, and Pagadian have been scheduled.

All these plans are commendable and good. It is important, though, that these be implemented properly. To have a whole boatload of Noah’s Ark passengers and illegal structures endangering aviation is an indication that our airports certainly need a lot of attention. Now that the airport improvement projects have been funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), the government should arrest that slide. Already, we have problems attracting tourists, definitely it would be criminal for the government if they allow our airports and our tourism industry to go to the dogs – literally or otherwise.

* * *

E-mail: [email protected]