Pilot of training plane killed in Quezon crash

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna — A pilot was killed while his student sustained injuries when their two-seater, single-engine Cessna training aircraft crashed off the town of Perez in Quezon at about 1:30 p.m. yesterday, the police said.

Superintendent Victorio Caragan, Quezon police director, identified the fatality as Capt. Michael Lim, training pilot of Master Flying School based in Pasay City.

Lim’s student, Fidel Gabriel Jr., suffered fractures in his backbone, Dr. Edwin Aguirre, medical officer 3 of the Alabat District Hospital, told The STAR.

Gabriel, a graduate student of the Philippine Aeronautics Training School (PATS), was declared out of danger, but Aguirre requested the Master Flying School to immediately airlift him to Manila for further treatment.   

A Master Flying School staffer, who requested anonymity, said the Cessna 150 training plane (RPC-747) took off from Daet, Camarines Sur at about noon and was headed to Bulacan when it experienced trouble and crashed at sea, a few meters away from the Perez coastline.