MANILA, Philippines — Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) officials confirmed yesterday that the flight data recorder was recovered from the wreckage of the light plane that crashed Sunday afternoon in Laguna, killing nine people on board.
CAAP investigators said the 11-seater Beechcraft King Air type (BE350) medical evacuation aircraft operated by Lion Air with registry number RP-C2296 that crashed in Barangay Pansol, Calamba actually carried a total of nine passengers while the flight plan/manifesto included only Capt. Jesus Fernandez (pilot), First Officer Lino Cruz Jr. (co-pilot), Dr. Garret Garcia (physician), nurses Kirk Eion Badilla and Yamato Togawa, Ryx Gil Laput, flight mechanic Raymund Bulacja and Tom Carr, the New Zealand patient.
The unlisted passenger turned out to be Carr’s wife Erma who was a Filipina-New Zealander.
He said CAAP investigators are still collecting important parts of ill-fated plane.
CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio told The STAR in a phone interview yesterday that investigators recovered the electronic recording equipment of the ill-fated plane.
He said the Beechcraft plane does not have a black box like passenger airliners, but communication equipment or a sort of flight data recorder installed in small aircraft.
“No black box on small plane because it’s too heavy. It is only installed on big aircraft like A320/B747,” Apolonio said.
Apolonio said while the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB)’s investigation may take at least a month to complete, it would be able to come up with partial results in a week.
As a matter of protocol, however, the CAAP in a statement yesterday said it cannot yet release partial information from the investigation.
“The authority will be releasing its final report once the AAIIB concludes its probe of the crash,” it said.
Apolonio said the investigation process would involve recovering parts of the plane, which in itself could take days, and then reconstruct the aircraft in CAAP’s hangar at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
The AAIIB is currently investigating the cause of the crash that killed all nine persons onboard and also why there was a discrepancy in the flight manifest.
Officials explained that the Beechcraft plane can carry 11 passengers and crew and most probably Carr’s wife joined the flight at the last minute.
The Beechcraft, which took off from Dipolog Airport in Zamboanga del Norte for Manila, crashed at a small private resort in Pansol, Calamba, killing two pilots and seven passengers onboard while two resort caretakers were injured.
Calamba police chief Lt. Col. Jacinto Malinao said the injured victims Malou Roca, 49, and her son John Rey, 19, both caretakers of the Agojo Resort in Miramonte Subdivision, suffered burns and were brought to Jose P. Rizal Hospital.
Laguna police director Col. Eleazar Matta said there were reports that strong rains had prevailed in the area before the medical evacuation aircraft went down in Barangay Pansol.
The stormy weather also hampered efforts by officials to get updates from police investigators sent to the crash site, according to Matta. – With Rudy Santos, Ed Amoroso, Emmanuel Tupas