Black box of Russian-made plane recovered

MANILA, Philippines - Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) director general Alfonso Cusi reported yesterday that crash investigators have already recovered the black box and cockpit voice recorder of the Russian-made cargo plane that crashed and killed three people last Wednesday night in Mexico, Pampanga.

He said the data from the black box would determine the plane’s altitude, speed, direction of flight and other technical information, while the cockpit voice recorder would reveal the conversation of the crew and air traffic controllers shortly before the crash.

Cusi said both recorders would help investigators determine the cause of the crash, which was initially blamed on electrical problems after the plane took off from Mactan International Airport in Cebu City.

CAAP formed two separate task forces to investigate the crash of the four-engine Antonov cargo plane at Barangay Laput in Mexico at around 9 p.m. while the aircraft was on its way to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark Field, Pampanga.

The aircraft crashed on a rice field and killed three of six crewmen.

Authorities identified the fatalities as Russian engineers Nikolay Bannon and Vadim Yahimov and Bulgarian employee Tzvitoslav Guetchevski.

The charred bodies were recovered from the wreckage and were brought to the Manabat-Arceo funeral parlor in San Fernando City, the police said.

The Russian pilot Yuri Tochony, 50, co-pilot Dmitry Struminsky, 39, from Uzbekistan, and another Uzbek crewman Bokhadir Ruziev, 44, survived the crash after they jumped out of the plane’s cockpit window during the initial impact on the ground. The pilot had made an emergency landing shortly before the explosion that ripped the aircraft into two sections.

The Antonov 12 plane, with body number UP-AN216, is being leased by Inter-Island Airlines, a local firm.

Clark International Airport Corp. (CIAC) president Victor Jose Luciano said the Russian aircraft was chartered by the Pacific East Asia Cargo Co., reportedly a sister company of Philippine Air Lines and an investor at Clark Freeport.

“The aircraft used to shuttle between Pampanga and Cebu to transport parcels for the UPS (United Parcels Service) based at Clark, since UPS planes cannot fly to other parts of the country to pick up or deliver parcels,” Luciano said.

Luciano and CIAC executive vice president Alex Cauguiran cited reports from officials stationed at the tower of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark indicating that the Antonov plane was preparing to approach the Clark airport when it vanished from the radar monitor at about 8:50 p.m. Wednesday.

“Thirty minutes after loss of contact, an alarm was sounded,” he said.

Police said Tochony told investigators that the plane encountered electric circuit trouble and fire broke out at the cargo cabin, which prompted him to make an emergency landing.

Cusi said that the first task force would investigate the cause of crash, and the other team would look into documents and records of how the aircraft was able to obtain an Airline Certificate of Conveyance.

Tochony, who spoke little English, told The STAR that he and the two other survivors suffered scratches and other minor injuries.

The survivors reported to the Mexico police station yesterday morning, but they all refused to talk to media and refused to be photographed.

Tochony, however, granted The STAR a short interview and said that only one of the crewmen was at the cargo cabin in the middle section of the aircraft at the time of the crash, while he and the four other crewmen were inside the cockpit.

“There was impact. Much smoke,” said Tochony.

Tochony said he and the two other survivors ran to safer ground after jumping from the plane. The survivors were treated at the Makabali Memorial Hospital in San Fernando City and were later discharged. – With Ding Cervantes, Cecille Suerte Felipe, Ric Sapnu, Freeman, AP