2 ATO officials here to probe plane crash

Two investigators from the Air Transportation Office in Manila arrived yesterday to look into the plane crash in barangay Ibo, Lapu-Lapu City Saturday night.

Jessup Bahinting, director of the Adventure Flight and Sports Education flying school, which owned the two-seater Cessna plane, said the investigators had already interviewed the pilot yesterday at the Mactan Doctors' Hospital.

Bahinting refused to make speculations behind the cause of the accident but said the plane was in good condition before it crashed at the concrete fence at the former Takan barbecue park just outside the Mactan Cebu International Airport runway.

Bahinting however said the plane crashed because it flew very low, then hit the concrete fence and a vehicle on the road.

Bahinting dismissed the theory that bad weather had caused the accident, adding that the weather in Mactan on Saturday was very clear.

The school conducted its own investigation, but explained the result is only for their consumption and the official result should came from the ATO.

Meanwhile, Bahinting said the pilot and the Korean student are just resting in the hospital.

He said the two did not suffer major injuries, in fact, Calasinao just sustained minor injury in his nose while the Korean student has no injuries at all.

"Since the school had already paid their confinement at the hospital for two days, so we allow them to just rest there at the hospital", he said.

Bahinting admitted that the destruction of one of their planes had affected on their operation. The school owns three Cessna planes for around 20 students, mostly foreigners who took up short courses that run for a period of at least two months.

With the accident last Saturday, only two Cessna planes can be used, although the destroyed plane is still repairable. - Fred P. Languido