Zamboanga International Airport - Incidents and Accidents

Incidents and Accidents

• On May 3, 2006, Cebu Pacific flight 393, a Douglas DC-9 from Davao, was on final approach on Runway 27 at 9:15 am. After touchdown, the left main gear of the aircraft burst. All 100 passengers were safe, but the aircraft was stuck on the runway. Because of this, the airport was closed for 23 hours. Air Philippines flights to Zamboanga were canceled, as well as all Philippine Airlines afternoon flights to and from Zamboanga and Cebu Pacific flights to Manila. A South East Asian Airlines flight from Jolo that was about to land in Zamboanga was ordered to go back due to the incident. The Cebu Pacific Zamboanga office advised their Manila office about the problem, sending two new landing gears to Zamboanga. However, since the aircraft was stuck on the runway, the plane that was going to deliver the planes gear landed at Pagadian Airport and helicopters of the Philippine Air Force delivered the landing gears to the airport. The next day, the aircraft was removed from the runway and normal airport operations resumed. Due to the incident, Philippine Airlines and Air Philippines were forced to hold special flights.
• On December 28, 2006, a Philippine Air Force assault helicopter crashed during an emergency landing Thursday on the airport's runway. The pilots of the rocket-firing MG520 helicopter, which is used against al-Qaeda-linked militants and communist guerrillas, were on a routine maintenance flight when they decided to make an emergency landing for still-unclear reasons. The MG530 was damaged and its two pilots were slightly injured and shaken by the crash landing.
• On August 5, 2010, a bombing incident occurred upon the arrival of Sulu Governor Abdulsakur Tan, who was the main target of the terrorists, from Manila at 6:00pm. The incident killed two people and several were hurt, including Tan. This incident prompted Representative Beng Climaco to make a proposal to relocate the airport to its new site that will cost PhP 9 billion.
• On March 9, 2011, Philippine Airlines flight PR-124 bound for Manila scheduled to depart at 6:55 am was turning slowly for take off when its left wheel fell off the concrete runway and got stuck in the mud. All 90 passengers safely disembarked from the aircraft and returned to the pre-departure area.