F-27 had engine trouble a day before crash

The engine of Laoag International Airlines Flight 585’s Fokker-27 was "vibrating" and "surging" a day before the aircraft crashed into Manila Bay, LIA pilots admitted yesterday.

The LIA crew noticed the vibration when the plane was descending to the Tagbilaran airport on a flight from Manila last Nov. 10, LIA pilot Capt. Romeo Pagsiguron testified during yesterday’s the resumption of the hearing on the crash at the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).

"The vibration was very slight... I asked my co-pilot to put that in the logbook so that our flight mechanics could attend to it," he added.

The DOTC is investigating why Flight 585 crashed into the bay, killing 19 of the 34 passengers on board. Initial investigation showed that the aircraft’s engine broke down 27 minutes after it took off from the Manila domestic terminal.

At last Wednesday’s hearing, the surviving crew of the ill-fated aircraft — Capt. Bernie Crisostomo, co-pilot First Officer Joseph Gardiner and maintenance chief Juan Fornillos — testified that they could not be certain if the fuel valve, which supplies fuel to the plane, was switched off. The three crew members blamed each other for the mistake.– With Jack Castano III