'Pilots possibly miscalculated altitude of mountain ridges'

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya , Philippines  – The Chemtrad plane, whose wreckage was discovered last Tuesday, nearly two weeks after it went missing, was possibly trying to avoid bad weather en route to its destination when it slammed into a mountain ridge in Baggao, Cagayan, authorities said.

Police-led retrieval teams, meanwhile, were having difficulty recovering the remains of the seven people on board the ill-fated plane due to poor weather and heavy vegetation in the crash site, which is two to three hours by foot from the nearest available landing zone.

Chief Superintendent Roberto Damian, Cagayan Valley police director, said the plane’s pilots, in trying to avoid the imminent bad weather, apparently miscalculated the altitude of mountain ridges in Baggao town leading to the Pacific coast, causing the plane to slam into the ridges in Sitio Baying, Barangay San Miguel.

“The aircraft apparently had difficulty crossing the high ridge line causing the plane to crash into the slope,” said Damian, adding that the wreckage was strewn on the mountain slopes at an “altitude (of) more or less 5,000 feet.”

Apparently trying to avoid bad weather, the plane’s pilots strayed from their usual flight path over the northern Sierra Madre mountain, instead taking a northeasterly route through Baggao in the Pacific coast en route to Isabela’s coastal town of Maconacon.

Meanwhile, Director Leopoldo Bataoil, chief of the Directorate for Integrated Police Operations in Northern Luzon, said it is up to the Civil Aviation Authority to determine with finality the cause of the crash of the twin-engine Islander plane, owned by Chemtrad Aviation Corp. 

If it is proven that the aircraft owners were responsible for the crash due to negligence, Bataoil said they would file appropriate charges against them.

Bataoil made a stop here while on his way to Cagayan to personally monitor the ongoing retrieval operations.

Bataoil said he has coordinated with Lt. Gen. Isagani Cachuela, head of the Armed Forces Northern Luzon Command, for additional security in the area, especially since communist rebels are present there. 

On board the plane were Capt. Tomas Yañez and his co-pilot Capt. Ranier Ruiz, and their passengers councilor Abelardo Baggay, SPO2 Rolly Castaños and Celestino Salacup, all from Maconacon town; barangay chairman Joel Basilio of Sapinit, Divilacan town; and James Bakilan of the Divilacan municipal government.

The plane left the Tuguegarao City airport last April 2 for what should have been a 45-minute flight southeast to Maconacon. It lost contact with air traffic personnel shortly after takeoff.