Measure Mark Measure again and check that mark Check again then Cut. OH! Check? is that word in the Vocabulary? Nah! no one checks anything until it is too late. EVEN MA! we got no rice left For me, did you check the Sack (Or whatever)
One would think that a major international airport (especially in the Philippines where power is very unreliable) like that would have a generator setup that would allow them to remain, mostly, operational completely off the main power grid for at least 48 hours. There really is no excuse for the flights being delayed, canceled or rerouted for a small localized power outage. (That leads me believe that they couldn't even keep their control tower/radar up and running for very long. Which, if that's the case, there should be criminal charges brought up on someone for negligence and putting the lives hundreds/thousands in danger. This is something that should never happen at a major international airport IMO.)
Jack, it might have stopped working because someone did check on it. Just sayin. Like the flood pumps in the city of New Orleans in the US. When I worked for a local community college in Texas in the US they had switchgear boxes/modules ready to go in case one blew. I would think an international airport would take the same precautions. Oh well, just another one of those things if it didn't happen to me. In fact it would just be another sucky footnote in my life if it did happen to me. At least the loss of life was 0-low.
They should be made to by Law, as a Military Jockey of over 20 years I can tell you that there is nothing as Scary and S... happening thing as Making a Final Approach and the Kin lights go out and you may have 15/20 Craft behind you. Man that, is Pandemonium A sudden Pull back on the throttles and that Sharp up lift can cause Heart attacks. Come on NAIA get your act Together.
I've read that stale fuel was part of the problem. MERALCO says their outage was only 45 seconds and the rest was up to the idiots that run the airport. Supposedly the generators started correctly about a year ago. Maybe they should test their generators monthly like most folks do? Maybe adding a fuel stabilizer would also help their problems? All things that homeowners (like me) do as routine maintenance on generator sets...
Then I guess I was very lucky. I was b!tching and moaning because my flight was scheduled to leave NAIA at 3pm Sunday and we had boarded at 2:15 or so and got stuck on the tarmac/runway for an hour or so before finally taking off and arrived here in Duma safe and sound if upset with the delays only about 20 minutes late. Got lucky there I suppose!
