Cebu Pacific Gets a Whitewash

In this post yesterday about the Asiana crash in San Francisco, and in this one a month ago about a Cebu Pacific crash in Davao, I predicted that nothing would be done to penalize Cebu Pacific for their failure to train their flight crew – a failure that led to disgraceful behavior by that crew that endangered the lives of a planeful of passengers – because the airline is owned by one of the Philippines’ richest men. I also mentioned that there had been no action in the month since the crash.

Well, I was half-right. A more diligent search found this item detailing the actions of the Civil Aviation Authority – so I was wrong about no action being taken. I was right about the action taken, however: It was a total whitewash of the airline.

Although Cebu Pacific will not be receiving any fines or penalties from the Civil Aviation Authority, it will be asked to comply with an action plan that emphasizes safety over cost-cutting measures.

Boy – that’ll show them!

And it gets worse. Fearful, I guess that even that extremely timid slap on the wrist might annoy the Gokongwei family, the CAA immediately backed off:

The Civil Aviation Authority wants to reassure the flying public that Cebu Pacific is a safe airline. 

Unfortunately, this is how things are done here.