What: Aviation Technology Innovators Beechcraft 65-80 Queen Air en route from Manila to McGuire Field, San Jose, Mindoro.
Where: Parañaque City, Philippines
When: Dec 10, 2011 2 p.m.
Who: 3 aboard, 11 on the ground
Why: The first steps after a crash are those of the investigators whose job it is to examine the wreckage and determine the facts. This information will eventually be turned into an interim and a final report, which will stand as a record. Simultaneously, the records will be examined. Not only will the pilots’ recorded histories be searched and the level of their skill examined, but also the maintenance and ownership of Beechcraft 65-80 Queen Air RP-C824
Captains Timoteo Aldo and Jessie Kim Lustica died in the crash three minutes after takeoff.
Here is a big question: Where is Captain Fidel Hembrador who leased ATI for the repair, maintenance and hangar parking services for the plane?
My first thought takes me to wondering about the condition of the plane. (Maintenance! Maintenance! Maintenance!) My second is to wonder about the pilots’ experience. My third is a strong suggestion that people refrain from rebuilding so close to the airport. However, such an edict would mean it is the government’s responsibility to see that 600 displaced people get generous government assistance in the form of grants or compensation, providing the means for displaced families to establish domiciles elsewhere.
Below is the DEC 12 release from the Department of Transportation and Communications of the Philippines:
Secretary of Transportation and Communications Mar Roxas met with CAAP [Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines] officials today, and ordered a thorough investigation of the light aircraft incident that left 14 people dead on Saturday in Barangay Don Bosco, Paranaque City.
The officials discussed the liability of the owner of the light plane and take into effect a speedy, seven-day timeline for the submission of the investigation report.
CAAP director general Ramon Gutierrez reported that he constituted the Aircraft Accident Investigation Inquiry Board (AAIIB) headed by Captain Amado Soliven, Jr. to lead the panel. The panel will investigate why and how the Beechcraft Queen Air (RPC-834) eight-seater light plane plunged into the shanty town in Paranaque City, exploding on impact, and causing a fire that gutted a 2,000-square-meter section of the slum area.
Gutierrez also told the DOTC secretary the ill-fated aircraft submitted an official flight plan to the CAAP hours before the flight under the registry of Aviation Technologies Innovators, Inc. [ATI], a repair station/maintenance and hangar provider.
But CAAP investigators revealed that the plane had a certificate of registration under one Captain Fidel Hembrador, a private operator, who reportedly leased ATI for the repair, maintenance and hangar parking services for the said plane.
Hembrador has yet to surface following the incident last Saturday.
The CAAP reported that it had retrieved and secured the engines of the plane. CAAP investigators, with the assistance of the authorized repair station of the engine manufacturer (LYCOMING), are currently breaking down the engines to determine if a mechanical malfunction had occurred.
The CAAP had commandeered the aircraft record and logbooks, as well as summary records of the training experience of the crew.
“I have tasked the fact-finding panel to come up with a report and recommendations within the week,” said Secretary Roxas. “We will make sure that all facts of this unfortunate accident are investigated, the victims are duly compensated, and make sure that similar accidents do not happen in the future.”
Roxas added that the general aviation services is one sector that the DOTC intends to relocate to another site. “The objective is to decongest NAIA from small aircraft operations, so as not to comingle with commercial airline operations.”
The CAAP had recommended two potential transfer sites, Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas and Sangley Point in Cavite.
Both military facilities are military-owned. Roxas said the DOTC and the Department of National Defense will come up with a MOA that will govern the transfer, as well as the relocation of residents who will be displaced by the move.
