a AI Marchetti SF.260TP similar to the one lost at sea
Click to view full size photo at Airliners.net
Contact photographer
What: Philippine Air Force SIAI Marchetti SF.260TP Warrior
Where: Mariveles, Bataan, Philippines
When: May 18, 2012
Who: 2 aboard
Why: The Philippine Air Force trainer that took off from Danilo Atienza Air Base in Sangley Point at around 6:55 a.m and failed to return was reported to have crashed in waters off Mariveles, Bataan. No distress call was made.
Witnesses say the plane tilted sideways and nosedived into the sea, with no smoke or explosion. Some of the wreckage— fuel tank, a pilot helmet and one of the seats of the plane—was recovered at 7:30 a.m in 180 foot deep water. Coast guard divers have been searching. The missing pilots, Major Neil Tumaneng, a graduate of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) Class 1995, and his co-pilot, Lt. Michael Arugay, of PMA Class 1999, are still missing.
The Philippines Coast Guard, the Philippine National Police, and Philippine Army found some wreckange; however a fishermen found partial remains in deep waters.
The crash occurred near Fortune Isle, a tiny rocky island near Mariveles.
