SEARCHERS have found the Cessna 152 plane that went missing in Cagayan province on Tuesday, but authorities recanted an earlier statement that the bodies of the pilot and his student were found dead.
“The Cessna 152 training aircraft (RP-C8958) that was reported missing yesterday, 1 August 2023, has been found by the search team at barangay Salvacion, Luna, Apayao today, 2 August 2023,” said Eric Apolonio, spokes- man of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
Apolonio, however, confirmed the plane’s wreckage was located.
Meanwhile, the CAAP said it has suspended operations of the Echo Air, owner of the ill-fated plane.
CAAP investigators have been dispatched to conduct a probe of the accident following retrieval of the fatalities’ remains.
Apolonio said there was no distress signal prior to the disappearance of the Cessna training aircraft.
The plane left Laoag airport at 12:16 p.m. Tuesday and was supposed to arrive at Tuguegarao Airport three hours later.
The aircraft with two persons on board, a pilot instructor and a student pilot, was bound for Caua an Airport for a touch and go activity, then to the Tuguegarao Airport.
Apolonio said another aircraft with registration number RP-C9062 left Laoag minutes earlier and “was able to successfully land at Tuguegarao Airport at 1:09 p.m.”
The Cessna 152 is an American two-seater, fixed-tricycle-gear, general aviation airplane, used primarily for flight training and personal
use. CAAP officials said there was no distress signal on the time when the Cessna training aircraft went missing in Cagayan last Tuesday.
The composite team of rescuers came from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council composed of members of the Philippine Coast Guard and military personnel.
“The joint search and rescue operations has triangulated the possible crash site in Alcala early today,” Apolonio said.
“The last known position of RP-C8958, was 32 nautical miles (NM) northwest of Alcala, Cagayan,” he said.
A composite team from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, Philippine Air Force, and Philippine Army started searching for the missing Cessna plane that went missing after leaving Laoag International Airport Tuesday afternoon.
The rescue team initially dispatched a Coast Guard helicopter and a missionary chopper early Wednesday morning but they decided to go back “due to low ceiling (cloudy skies) and “bad weather” in the area.
“The joint Search and Rescue operations has triangulated the possible crash site in Alcala early today,” according to Apolonio.
The plane with two persons on board, a pilot instructor and a student pilot, was bound for Cauayan Airport for a touch and go activity then to its final destination at Tuguegarao Airport.
“The last known position of RP-C8958, was 32 nautical miles (NM) northwest of Alcala, Cagayan,” Apolonio said.
Apolonio said an aircraft with registration number RP-C9062, which also departed Laoag minutes earlier, “was able to successfully land at Tuguegarao Airport at 1:09 p.m.”
The latest accident involving a Cessna plane occurred more than five months following the same incident in Isabela province and
the other one which was found near an active volcano in Bicol.
Last February, four people died in a Cessna 340 plane crash on Mayon Volcano.
The victims, including two Australians, were on board the plane that went missing shortly after taking off for Manila from Bicol International Airport in Albay province, several kilometers from the Mayon volcano.
At least 179 people were involved to bring the bodies down the steep slopes of the volcano. The plane’s wreckage was on the western side of
the volcano, about 3,500 to 4,000 feet above sea level.
In March, another Cessna plane with six people on board that went missing in Isabela province on Jan. 24 has been found with no
survivors.
The wreckage of a Cessna 206 plane was found following weeks of search operations conducted by a composite team from the Armed Forces of the Philippines at the Dumagat tribe living in the hills at Barangay Ditarum, Divilacan.
The bodies of the plane’s pilot and six passengers were found while parts of the plane were scattered around the area.
One of the bodies was found without the head.
The latest case involving Cessna plane occurred more than five months following the same incident in Isabela province, also in Cagayan, and
the other one which was found near an active volcano in Bicol.
Last February, four people died after the Cessna 340 plane they were in crashed on Mayon Volcano.