Engine trouble eyed in plane crash

BAGUIO CITY -- The twin-engine Piper Aztec that crashed in Camp John Hay here April 10 could have experienced engine trouble right after take-off because it had difficulty gaining altitude, plunging into a wooded area of the former American recreational base and killing two of the six persons on board.

The pilot, Col. Reynaldo Garcia, did not even have the time to call the Loakan Control tower to report his condition, according to aviation sources.

Garcia and Vanessa Cabiso were airlifted to St. Luke’s hospital in Taguig City Monday morning for confinement.

Ereneo Yabot was reportedly in critical condition and recuperating in Baguio Medical Center with Josephine Miranda.

Another passenger, Grace Alvarez, expired at 6:45 p.m. April 10 and Mon Haranas was pronounced dead upon arrival at the BMC.

The Civil Aviation Authority is now transcribing the tape recorder of the airport control tower at Loakan to find any hint as to the airplane’s last moment before it went down, according to CAAP Director General Ramon Gutierrez.

The CAAP officially reported Monday two persons died in the crash while the four remaining survivors were at the Baguio General Hospital in stable condition.

Yabot, according to CAAP, remained a serious case.

Cabiso reportedly suffered fractures at the back and collarbone, while Garcia suffered burns in various parts of the body.
Based on the report by Loakan Airport officer-in-charge, Capt. Egon Nile Jordan, Gutierrez said that the twin-engine airplane took off at 2:45 p.m. Sunday on runway 27 bound for Plaridel Airport in Bulacan.

The traffic controller on duty (Loakan), in his report to CAAP, said that the airplane was observed not gaining altitude and remained at the treetop level over Camp John Hay.

Three minutes after take-off, the plane vanished from the controller’s sight.

“Very shortly thereafter, air traffic controller on duty saw smoke coming from Camp John Hay area and alerted the crash and fire rescue unit and other related agencies,” the report said.

At 2:55 p.m., the control tower received a telephone call from an unknown informant that an airplane had crashed at the wooded portion of the camp. The air controller dispatched a fire truck and members of the rescue team to the crash site.

Gutierrez said Jordan personally checked the status of the passengers at the two hospitals and later informed members of their respective families.

The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) on Monday started probing the cause of the crash.

Police Senior Insp. Ruben Porte, station chief of a precinct of the Baguio City Police Office) within the area, said the CAA initially inspected the wreckage of the plane at the crash site in a forested area of Camp John Hay.