Crash probers search for clues

MANILA, Philippines - Air crash investigators of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) now have the engine of the ill-fated cargo plane that crashed over the weekend in a Parañaque slum that left 14 people dead and several injured.

CAAP director general Ramon Gutierrez said air crash investigators took the plane engine from the police to start the probe on the cause of the accident Saturday.

“The engines are severely charred and we wonder if investigators would be able to find out whether there was fuel contamination or fuel starvation that caused the engines to quit in mid-air,” Gutierrez said yesterday.

Investigators led by Capt. Amado Soliman Jr., officer-in-charge of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Inquiry Board (AAIIB) reported the status of the engines after a visit to the crash site at Barangay Don Bosco.

Soliman said the plane’s engine had been recovered, along with other material that could yield clues as to what caused it to crash.

He said experts would also examine the last conversation between the cockpit and the control tower to determine what transpired moments before the crash.

Gutierrez added air crash investigators would normally examine the fuel remaining in the engine to determine if they are contaminated or mixed with other fuels.

The AAIIB would also determine whether the engines could have been starved of fuel or because the gasoline was not able to reach the engine.

Airplanes have auxiliary and main tanks, which are the sources of fuel. The pilot switches fuel tanks as they are spent in flight to keep the airplane balanced, Gutierrez explained.

“As of now, the investigators are (facing) a blank wall because it seems that there was no fuel left at all following the conflagration that also burned the engine blocks,” he said. 

Gutierrez theorized the plane could have been carrying a full tank of fuel when it crashed, based on the extent of damage and the explosion upon impact.

The six-seater cargo plane Queen Air, reportedly owned by Innovators Technology Inc., plunged into rows of shanties, exploding on impact and causing a fire that gutted a 2,000-square-meter section of the slum that stands on either side of an open sewer.

The pilot, co-pilot, and a third person on board were killed, and the other fatalities were residents who died in the inferno that destroyed dozens of simple dwellings.

The CAAP identified the pilots as Captains Timoteo Aldo and Jessie Kim Lustica. The third occupant of the plane remained unidentified.

Soliman said they would review the aircraft’s service records to find out if the owner had followed proper procedure in servicing the airplane’s engines and maintenance as required by aviation laws.

The service record has all the details of an aircraft’s maintenance records, who and when it was serviced and other related issues.

The result of the inquiry would determine the accountability of the owner so that proper insurance for the plane could be claimed. It will also determine who would compensate for the damage to persons and properties caused by the crash, Gutierrez said.

Gutierrez identified the plane’s owner as a certain Captain Velasquez.

CAAP deputy director Daniel Dimagiba said the lack of spot aircraft airworthiness checks at the airports for small planes taking off at the runway could be blamed for the crash.

Dimagiba lamented the CAAP, particularly its Flight Standards Inspectorate Service (FSIS), has not been conducting aircraft worthiness checks especially on light planes of small airfreight firms in recent years.

“The CAAP has not been conducting spot airworthiness checks before they take off. It was SOP (standard operating procedure) during our time when we were deputy director general for operations. We have been questioning why they put a stop to those checks,” Dimagiba said.

The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), for its part, said that it would await the results of the CAAP investigation on the plane crash.

Transportation Secretary Manuel Roxas II also issued a statement on Saturday, commiserating with the families of the fatalities, and those injured in the incident.

“I commiserate with the victims and affected families of the plane accident. The DOTC, through the MIAA and CAAP are currently working with the police and complementing the LGU rescue efforts to prevent further damage and injury,” Roxas said.

“CAAP investigators are on the ground and I order them to start the full-scale investigation on the cause of this disaster to ensure it does not happen again in the future,” he said.

On the other hand, five other people were reported missing, according to residents, while at least 20 were injured in the crash.

The Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) identified the missing as Edna Arcilla, 20, Arnold Arcilla, 18, Ruel Moreno, 26, Janine Moreno, one year old, Maribel Nolasco, 36, Margarita Ranon, 27, James Bryan Ranon, five years old: Clive Replorido, three years old; Roldan Sabidorian, 49, and Maricel Rodriguez.

Emergency crews said they were carefully sifting through the rubble in hopes of finding bodies.

“DNA testing will be done today (yesterday) on those who had been recovered to identify them. They were burnt beyond recognition,” PNRC secretary-general Gwendolyn Pang said.

Pang said that the injured had serious burns and were being treated at a hospital, including seven children who had been playing near the site where the plane crashed.

Among those in critical condition was 11-year-old Rodelyn Molino, who doctors said had sustained serious burns across half of her body.

“She was at a safe area when she saw a friend asking for help. She braved the crash site, but unfortunately couldn’t save her, and she herself was injured,” Pang said.

‘Back firing’

Yellow tape cordoned off the crash site, the once tightly packed area now reduced to heaps of smashed cinder blocks and twisted sheets of corrugated metal roofing.

Traumatized residents sat at a distance, watching in silence as emergency crews worked through the debris.

Witnesses said they saw the plane went out of control in midair before it plunged and exploded on impact.

Other witnesses said that they heard “back firing” from the airplane before it crashed.

A television report showed a witness claiming seeing one of the occupants of the plane waving to the people below to get out of the way.

Many heard the explosion and saw the black smoke, fearing it could be a terrorist attack.

Arson investigators of the Bureau of Fire Protection estimated the damage in the crash could run up to P6 million.

Mayor Florencio Bernabe said that at least 50 shanty dwellings burned down and called for compensation for the families of the victims.

“We’ve already found out the owner of the aircraft, and they need to be accountable,” Bernabe told reporters.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) executive director Benito Ramos said most of the affected persons were children.

“(The incident) affected 20 houses mostly made up of light materials and two school buildings. The estimated cost of damage is P6 million,” Ramos said in a report.

Ramos said the Office of Civil Defense in Metro Manila is continuously coordinating with the police and airport authorities to monitor the developments.

The plane had just taken off at the Manila Domestic Airport when it radioed the control tower for permission to return and land, but instead crashed into the slum.

It was to have picked up cargo from Mindoro and was believed to be carrying a full tank of fuel when it went down.

The blaze also engulfed F. Serrano Elementary School, but it was empty at the time of the weekend crash -- avoiding what would have been much bigger casualties.

Bernabe said around 70 families have been evacuated and are temporarily taking shelter at the Annex 35 covered court.

He added around 2,000 students of the school were affected by the accident.

“We will be advising the students on Monday that classes will be suspended until further notice. We will have to distribute the students to nearby schools,” Bernabe told ANC.

Bernabe appealed for donation of used clothes, food and groceries for the families affected by the accident.

The accident has trained the spotlight on the problems in dealing with unfettered urban development and the lack of enforcement of zoning laws.

The plane’s flight path apparently crossed several residential areas that included Merville Subdivision, Moonwalk and Better Living Subdivision, all in Parañaque City.

The three residential areas are directly in the path of aircraft taking off from and landing at the Manila Domestic Airport.

There have been several crashes in the area during the last decade, with airplanes landing on top of houses and killing their occupants.

Many residents have planned to leave and relocate to safer areas every time such accidents occur, but they apparently chose to remain once the apparent threat subsided.

Merville Subdivision and nearby areas were supposed to have been the site of the future parallel runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport until it was overtaken by housing subdivisions. –With Perseus Echeminada, Rainier Allan Ronda, Alexis Romero