Individually Owned: 150,657
Corporate Owned: 137,281
Guam International Airport
Aircraft Accident/Incident Report
Agana, Guam 96910
Tuesady, December 17, 2002 3:35 PST
NTSB Narrative Summary Released at Completion of Accident
The Philippine Airlines Airbus A330 began an instrument landing system (ILS) approach to runway 6L at A.B. Won Pat Guam International Airport. According to flight data recorder information and the captain's statement, the captain set the autopilot to fly a 3.4 degree descent angle as the aircraft descended through 3,600 feet. At that point, the aircraft was 12.7 miles from the runway 6L touchdown point, where the calculated glideslope height based on the 3.0 degree glideslope specified on the ILS 6L approach chart is 4,060 feet. Therefore, the aircraft began its approach from a position 460 feet below the glideslope at an angle that was 0.4 degrees steeper than the standard glideslope. This resulted in a descent path that ended at the top of Nimitz Hill, approximately 4.5 miles from the runway 6L touchdown point. The airplane struck power lines at the hilltop, which is located about one mile from the site of a fatal accident involving a Korean Airlines (KAL) Boeing 747 that occurred in 1997. The crew then responded to a ground proximity warning system(GPWS) alert and began a climb, returning for another approach. The Guam air traffic control radar system generated a minimum safe altitude warning (MSAW) alert to the radar controller at 17:34:25 that continued for 1 minute and 22 seconds and ended at 17:35:47. During this period, the aircraft descended from approximately 1,700 feet to approximately 700 feet, and then began climbing in response to the GPWS alert. The controller took no action to warn the crew or the GUM tower controller about the aircraft's MSAW alert status or proximity to terrain. After the 1997 KAL accident, the Safety Board recommended that the FAA consider designating Guam International Airport as a special airport requiring special pilot qualifications. At this time, that recommendation is classified as "Open - Acceptable Action" by the Safety Board.
NTSB Probable Cause Narrative
The pilot's initiation of a premature descent that was both below the nominal glideslope and steeper than normal. Contributing to the incident was the air traffic controller's failure to respond to the MSAW warning and issue a safety alert as required by FAA order.
Event Information
| Type of Event | Incident |
| Event Date | 12/17/2002 |
| Event Day of the Week | Tuesday |
| Time of Event | 335 |
| Event Time Zone | Pacific Standard Time |
| Event City | Agana |
| Event State | GUAM |
| Event Country | -- |
| Zipcode of the event site | 96910 |
| Event Date Year | 2002 |
| Event Date Month | 12 |
| MidAir Collision Indicator | No |
| On Ground Collision occurred ? | No |
| Event Location Latitude | -- |
| Event Location Longitude | -- |
| Event Location Airport | Guam International |
| Event Location Nearest Airport ID | PGUM |
| Indicates whether the acc/inc occurred off or on an airport | Off Airport/Airstrip |
| Distance from airport in statute miles | 5.2 |
| Degrees magnetic from airport | 244 |
| Airport Elevation | 255 |
| Weather Briefing Completeness | -- |
| Investigator's weather source | Weather Observation Facility |
| Time of the weather observation | |
| Direction of event from weather observation facility (degrees) | 64 |
| Weather Observation Facility ID | PGUM |
| Elevation of weather observation facility | 255 |
| Distance of event from weather observation facility (units?) | 5 |
| Time Zone of the weather observation | UTC |
| Lighting Conditions | Night/Dark |
| Lowest Ceiling Height | 200 |
| Lowest Non-Ceiling Height | -- |
| Sky/Lowest/Cloud Conditions | Thin Overcast |
| Sky Condition for Lowest Ceiling | Indefinite (V V) |
| Visibility Runway Visual Range (Feet) | -- |
| Visibility Runway Visual Value (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Visibility (Statute Miles) | -- |
| Air Temperature at event time (in degrees celsius) | -- |
| Dew Point at event time (in degress fahrenheit) | -- |
| Wind Direction (degrees magnetic) | -- |
| Variable Wind Indicator | -- |
| Wind Speed (knots) | -- |
| Wind Velocity Indicator | -- |
| Wind Gust Indicator | Unknown |
| Wind Gust (knots) | -- |
| Altimeter Setting at event time (in. Hg) | -- |
| Density Altitude (feet) | -- |
| Intensity of Precipitation | -- |
| METAR weather report | -- |
| Event Highest Injury | None |
| On Ground, Fatal Injuries | 0 |
| On Ground, Minor Injuries | -- |
| On Ground, Serious Injuries | -- |
| Injury Total Fatal | -- |
| Injury Total Minor | -- |
| Injury Total None | 115 |
| Injury Total Serious | -- |
| Injury Total All | -- |
| Investigating Agency | NTSB |
| NTSB Docket Number (internal use) | 14770 |
| NTSB Notification Source | FAA |
| NTSB Notification Date | Jan 18 2003 12:00AM |
| NTSB Notification Time | -- |
| Fiche Number and/or location -used to find docket information | DMS |
| Date of most recent change to record | Feb 5 2004 4:26PM |
| User who most recently changed record | NTSB\MONR |
| Basic weather conditions | Instrument Meteorological Cond |
| FAA District Office | Washington DC HQ (AAI-100) |
Aircraft Involved |
|
|---|---|
Aircraft #1 |
|
| Aircraft Registration Number | -- |
| NTSB Number | OPS03IA001 |
| Missing Aircraft Indicator | -- |
| Federal Aviation Reg. Part | -- |
| Type of Flight Plan filed | IFR |
| Flight plan Was Activated? | Yes |
| Damage | Minor |
| Aircraft Fire | None |
| Aircraft Explosion | None |
| Aircraft Manufacturer's Full Name | Airbus Industrie |
| Aircraft Model | 330-301 |
| Aircraft Series Identifier | -- |
| Aircraft Serial Number | MFR #188 |
| Certified Max Gross Weight | 509000 |
| Aircraft Category | Airplane |
| Aircraft Registration Class | Foreign Registered/U.S. Soil |
| Aircraft is a homebuilt? | No |
| Flight Crew Seats | -- |
| Cabin Crew Seats | -- |
| Passenger Seats | -- |
| Total number of seats on the aircraft | 335 |
| Number of Engines | 2 |
| Fixed gear or retractable gear | Fixed |
| Aircraft, Type of Last Inspection | Unknown |
| Date of Last Inspection | -- |
| Airframe hours since last inspection | -- |
| Airframe Hours | -- |
| ELT Installed | No |
| ELT Activated | No |
| ELT Aided Location of Event Site | No |
| ELT Type | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Name | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Street Address | -- |
| Aircraft Owner City | -- |
| Aircraft Owner State | -- |
| Aircraft Owner Country | FR |
| Aircraft Owner Zipcode | -- |
| Operator is an individual? | No |
| Operator Name | -- |
| Operator Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Is Doing Business As | -- |
| Operator Address Same as Owner? | No |
| Operator Street Address | Legaspi St, Legaspi Village |
| Operator City | Makati City |
| Operator State | -- |
| Operator Country | RP |
| Operator Zip code | -- |
| Operator Code | -- |
| Owner has at least one certificate | -- |
| Other Operator of large aircraft? | -- |
| Certified for Part 133 or 137 Operation | -- |
| Operator Certificate Number | -- |
| Indicates whether an air carrier operation was scheduled or not | Scheduled |
| Indicates Domestic or International Flight | International |
| Operator carrying Pax/Cargo/Mail | Passenger Only |
| Type of Flying (Per_Bus / Primary) | -- |
| Second Pilot on Board | Yes |
| Departure Point Same as Event | No |
| Departure Airport Code | MNL |
| Departure City | Manila |
| Departure State | -- |
| Departure Country | RP |
| Departure Time | -- |
| Departure Time Zone | -- |
| Destination Same as Local Flt | crash at destination city |
| Destination Airport Code | GUM |
| Destination City | Agana |
| Destination State | GU |
| Destination Country | USA |
| Specific Phase of Flight | Approach - final approach fix (FAF)/outer marker to threshold (IFR) |
| Report sent to ICAO? | No |
| Evacuation occurred | No |
| Date of most recent change to record | Jun 6 2003 12:36PM |
| User who most recently changed record | ROWS |
| Since inspection or accident | -- |
| Event Location Runway Number and Location | 6L |
| Runway Length | 10015 |
| Runway Width | 150 |
| Sight Seeing flight | No |
| Air Medical Flight | No |
| Medical Flight | -- |