Natural and man-made disasters

The much higher death toll and wider extent of “Sendong” damage to lives and properties eclipsed an equally tragic incident that took place in Metro Manila two weeks earlier. This was the crash of a light plane that killed 14 people in a heavily populated residential area in Parañaque City last December 10. This sad story returned to the limelight after aviation investigators released last week their findings on the crash of the Beechcraft Queen Air light passenger plane in Barangay Don Bosco, Parañaque City.

Four of the 14 casualties were children who were playing at the open space in the neighborhood where the plane crashed. Also killed in the crash were the pilot, Capt. Timoteo Aldo and two other persons on board the ill-fated plane. Eleven other people were injured and more than 70 houses burned down in a hellish inferno when the plane still full of aviation fuel hit the ground and exploded.

The eight-seater, twin-engine aircraft RP-C824 was en route to San Jose, Mindoro to pick up a shipment of marine products when it crashed shortly after takeoff. It plunged to the ground four and a half miles away from runway 13-31m at the domestic airport adjacent to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

Capt. Amado Soliman, chief of the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB), declared it was “human factor or pilot error” that caused the crash. Soliman led the AAIIB team of fellow retired pilots who immediately conducted the air crash investigation as soon as the blaze was put out in the site.

Crucial parts of the plane’s engine they recovered from the crash site remained intact. Upon inspection of the engines, Soliman said they did not detect any signs of engine trouble that could have caused the crash. From accounts of eyewitnesses on the ground, Soliman’s team gathered from their impressions that the engine was apparently backfiring from sounds they heard from the plane as it was going down, nose first.

The AAIIB investigators found out the left engine suffered “fuel starvation” as the reason why it conked out a few minutes after takeoff. If the pilot goes by the book, he pointed out, an aircraft suffering engine failure should have continued to climb up to 1,000 feet before attempting to go back to the runway.

The AAIIB’s initial suspicions of pilot error were bolstered by what they saw from video footage taken from amateur camera as the plane was going down. Soliman noted the pilot veered towards the left, using the “dead” engine instead of shifting to the right to use the engine still functioning. By doing so, Soliman explained, it aggravated an already dire situation in which the pilot found himself flying 200 feet above ground.

Soliman suspected the pilot appeared to be in a hurry to go back to the airport instead of trying to gain more altitude. Following Soliman’s explanation, the pilot made this deadly mistake when his plane stalled in mid-air while trying to make a return flight. Thus, the AAIIB air crash probers closed the latest crash case as another example of pilot error.

But what the AAIIB investigators failed to expound on is why they did not look into the other angles of this crash incident. Minutes after takeoff, the pilot sensed trouble on his plane and reportedly radioed the tower that he would go back and re-land. Air crash probers could ask what had been done by those in the airport tower to guide to safe landing a pilot trying to maneuver his plane in distress.

Or much prior to that, the air crash probers could go as far back before the plane was even allowed to take off in the first place. Standard operating procedures require severe safety and security checks from technical aspects of the plane to bureaucratic requirements like documents from licenses to permits and insurance coverage of pilots, cargos and others.

Soliman and fellow air crash probers of this incident declared their verdict less than two weeks after they conducted their supposed investigation into this tragic plane crash.

The speed by which this air crash investigation was completed and concluded appeared too quick to pin the blame on the “usual suspect,” a dead pilot. While I may be no aviation expert to pass judgment, this appears to me as too easy and hasty conclusion.

The only expertise that I may have on aviation is having logged hundreds of hours of flying time traveling here and abroad, on helicopters, fixed wings, Fokker, C-130 and commercial jets. Also I learned a lot from watching Air Crash Investigation on National Geographic Channel although most of the crash accidents featured in this TV documentary involved mostly big aircraft and jetliners.

But I’m sure the same principles of air crash investigations are followed, whether big or small plane is involved anywhere in the world. The thoroughness and detailed investigation into such air crash accidents take a long time before aviation experts can come up with their definitive findings and conclusions.

And most especially, such findings and conclusions of these expert air crash investigators are the basis of their recommendations for improvements and installation of additional safety equipment and standards to prevent a repeat of the accident.

Generally, however, air transport is still the safest mode of travel. It is already an established fact that there are more motor vehicle accidents on the road than airplane crashes.

Only last Thursday, eight people were killed and 13 others were injured after a wayward 18-wheeler truck rammed through a row of houses along Sumulong Highway in Antipolo City. The truck driver was suspected to be high on drugs when the accident happened.

Aside from public safety issue, I must confess my interest in aviation is largely due to the fact that one of my twin sons is currently taking flying lessons to become a commercial pilot. Aside from prayers, I try to keep myself busy so I won’t worry much until my son safely lands back from his solo flights and drives back home safe and sound.

Unlike Sendong and other natural calamities, the effects of which can only be mitigated, man-made disasters like airplane and road accidents, on the other hand, can be prevented if the highest safety standards are observed and strictly applied.