F-OHZO

HISTORY OF FLIGHT

On December 16, 2002, approximately 1735 coordinated universal time (UTC), an Airbus A330, Philippine registration F-OHZO, operating as Philippine Airlines flight 110 (PAL110), struck power lines while executing a localizer-only Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to runway 6L at A.B. Pat Won Guam International Airport, Agana, Guam (GUM). Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed during the approach. Following a ground proximity warning system (GPWS) alert, the crew executed a missed approach and landed successfully after a second approach to the airport. The aircraft remained on the ground at Agana until departing at 2115 UTC to return to Manila as PAL flight 111. According to information provided by Philippine Airlines, after arriving at Manila the aircraft was inspected and found to have minor damage to the fuselage and landing gear. There were no reported injuries to passengers or crew. The flight was operated under Title 14, Code of Federal Regulations Part 129 as a scheduled passenger flight from Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL), Manila, Philippines, to GUM.

At the time of the incident, the GUM Automatic Surface Observation System (ASOS), ILS 6L glideslope, middle marker, and approach light system were all out of service because of typhoon damage, as was the Nimitz Very High Frequency Omnirange (UNZ VOR). Because of these outages, Guam Combined Center-Radar Approach Control (CERAP) was clearing aircraft for localizer-only ILS approaches to runway 6L.

The pilot of PAL110 first contacted Guam CERAP at 1654:08, stating "Guam Center, Philippine one ten." The CERAP controller asked the pilot to confirm that the aircraft was at flight level 370, and assigned the flight beacon code 2151. The crew acknowledged. At 1702:19, the controller advised the crew, "Radar contact seventy miles southeast of KITSS cleared direct IKOVY expect localizer approach." The pilot responded, "OK direct IKOVY and expect 06 localizer Philippine one one zero."

At 1706:52, the controller cleared the pilot of PAL110 to, "descend at pilot's discretion, maintain twenty six hundred, advise information India, Agana altimeter two nine nine nine." The pilot acknowledged the altitude assignment and confirmed that he had received information India. At 1708:00, the pilot reported that PAL110 was leaving flight level 370 for 2,600 feet and the controller acknowledged. At 1720:14, the pilot of PAL110 transmitted, "Philippine one ten confirm we're landing runway six left?" The controller responded, "Affirmative, runway six left is in use at Agana." At 1720:29, the controller transmitted, "Philippine one ten cross IKOVY at or above two thousand six hundred cleared ILS six left glideslope unusable." The pilot read back, "OK cross IKOVY at or above two thousand six hundred cleared ILS six left glideslope unusable Philippine one ten." The controller then acknowledged and added, "and DME is also out of service." The pilot acknowledged. (Subsequent investigation showed that the DME was unmonitored rather than out of service, so the controller's advisory was incorrect.)

At 1728:39, the CERAP controller called the GUM tower controller to coordinate PAL110's arrival, stating that the aircraft was "twenty five east Philippine one ten heavy Airbus." The tower controller responded, "Who was it?" and the CERAP controller repeated, "Philippine one ten." The CERAP controller then added, "for the ILS six left rw bc." (Controllers use "operating initials" to identify themselves during interphone conversations. The GUM tower controller's operating initials are RW, and the CERAP controller uses BC.) At 1728:59, the CERAP controller transmitted, "Philippine one ten established on the localizer inbound contact Agana tower good day." The pilot acknowledged. According to flight data recorder position information, the aircraft was 23.8 miles from the runway 6L threshold, descending through 5,700 feet.

At 1729:20, the pilot of PAL110 transmitted, "Guam tower, aah, good morning, Philippine one one zero with huh leaving five thousand five hundred." The GUM tower controller responded, "Philippine one one zero Agana tower roger sir. Runway six left cleared to land, wind one zero zero at six." The pilot read back, "Cleared to land runway six, Philippine one one zero."

While PAL110 was on approach to GUM, the CERAP controller was also handling Reach 8223, an arrival to Andersen AFB. At 1734:24, the CERAP controller transmitted, "Reach 8223 heavy fly heading two eight zero vectors tacan final." At 1734:26, during the transmission to Reach 8223, an aural MSAW alert is audible in the background. According to recorded MSAW activation data, the first alert for PAL110 activated at 1734:25 and would have produced a two second aural alert tone at the R4 position. Following the transmission to Reach 8223, the CERAP controller contacted Andersen tower to coordinate the arrival and then continued handling that aircraft.

At 1735:46, there was a brief sound of a transmitter keying on the GUM tower frequency, but no voice. At 1736:15, the pilot of PAL110 reported to GUM tower, "Philippine one one zero making missed approach." The tower controller replied, "Philippine one one zero Agana tower, roger sir, fly runway heading, climb and maintain two thou, correction, two thousand five hundred contact Guam Departure one eighteen seven." At 1736:28, the pilot read back, "OK, two thou (garbled), Philippine roger."

The GUM tower controller immediately called the CERAP and reported, "Philippine one ten missed." The CERAP controller replied, "Really? You're kidding. Your weather that bad?" The tower controller stated, "I don't think it's that bad. It looks pretty clear to me official weather showing six miles visibility." The CERAP controller then said, "OK runway heading climbing to four thousand." Neither controller evidenced any awareness of the MSAW alert or the aircraft's proximity to Nimitz Hill. At 1736:52, the tower controller transmitted, "Philippine one one zero, tower. You still up freq?" The pilot responded, "Say again, sir?" The tower controller replied, "Roger sir, continue runway heading climb and maintain four thousand, contact Guam departure one eighteen seven." The pilot read back, "OK, four thousand, one eighteen seven, Philippine one one (garbled) switching."

At 1737:30, the pilot of PAL110 transmitted to Guam CERAP, "Philippine one ten with you passing three thousand one hundred." The CERAP controller responded, "Philippine one ten roger turn right heading one eight zero vectors ILS approach." At 1739:04, the pilot of PAL110 reported level at 4,000 feet and heading 180. The CERAP controller responded, "Philippine one ten roger turn right heading two four zero." The pilot acknowledged. At 1740:44, the CERAP controller transmitted, "Philippine one ten descend and maintain two thousand six hundred." The pilot replied, "Descend and maintain two thousand six hundred Philippine one ten." At 1742:32, the CERAP controller transmitted, "Philippine turn right heading three three zero." The pilot of PAL110 responded, "right three three zero Philippine one ten." At 1743:13, the controller instructed the pilot of PAL110 to, "turn right heading three zero zero." The pilot acknowledged the heading assignment, and then asked, "is that three zero zero or two three zero?" The controller replied, "Correction the heading is three five zero Philippine one ten." The pilot acknowledged.

At 1743:46, the CERAP controller issued PAL110's second approach clearance, stating, "Philippine one ten heavy position is five miles west of final approach fix, fly heading zero three zero maintain at or above two thousand until established on final cleared for ILS runway six left approach." The pilot read back, "OK zero three zero maintain two thousand until established on final cleared for ILS six left approach." At 1744:31, the CERAP controller advised the GUM controller that, "Philippine is on the ILS again." At 1745:25, the pilot of PAL110 reported, "Philippine established on the final now runway in sight." The controller then asked, "Philippine one ten you want to fly the visual now?" The pilot replied, "affirm," and the controller responded, "Cleared for the visual approach runway six left contact Agana tower."

At 1745:41, the pilot of PAL110 again contacted the tower, stating, "Hello tower, good morning, Philippine one one zero we're six miles on final, runway in sight, visual." The tower controller responded, "Philippine one one zero Agana tower, roger sir, runway six left cleared to land, wind zero niner zero at six." The pilot read back, "Cleared to land six left, Philippine one one zero." At 1748:29, the tower controller instructed the pilot of PAL110 to, "turn left pilot discretion, contact Ramp Control one two one point six, good morning." The pilot responded, "one two one point six, good morning." There were no further ATC contacts with the flight.

Safety Board and FAA investigators inspected the Nimitz Hill area on January 5, met with four witnesses, and examined the area surrounding their residences. Because of the December typhoon, the island's power transmission systems were heavily damaged. The wires reportedly knocked down by PAL110 were still not repaired because of the higher priority repairs being undertaken elsewhere on the island. Of the original three wires attached to the pole adjacent to the witness residences, two were snapped and one was dislodged from the pole.

Three of the witnesses live in a house located directly beneath the ILS 06 final approach course and approximately 1/2 mile inside the outer marker (OM). On the night of the incident, they were asleep in different rooms. Witness 1's room is located in the southwest corner of the house, with one window facing the outer marker and another facing perpendicular to the final approach course. He stated that he...