A Cessna 152-type plane with two persons on board crash-landed at the mountains of Pantabang, Aurora, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines reported on Tuesday.
CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio said the agency’s Operation Rescue and Coordinating Center reported that the aircraft crashed around 12:30 p.m. with a still-unidentified instructor and a student pilot on board.
The plane was on a cross-country flight that departed at Lingayen airstrip around 10:02 a.m., Apolonio added.
ORCC alerted the Aircraft Accident Investigators, National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council, and Air Force Operations for a rescue mission. Joel E. Zurbano
At 1:59 p.m., Philippine Army personnel were also dispatched for a rescue composed of men from the 84th Infantry Battalion while Philippine Air Force Rescue with Super Huey ll type of aircraft departed Clark at 3:15 pm via Fort Magsaysay proceeded to the crash site.
In October 2016, CAAP suspended the operations of all Cessna-172 aircraft of a La Union-based aviation school after one of its planes crashed in the province of Ilocos Sur, killing two people.
The incident involved C-172M trainer aircraft with registration number RP-C7838 that crashed near Vitales Resort near Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Government rescue teams retrieved the bodies of the plane crash victims – Capt. John Kaizan Estabillo and co-pilot Paola Vianca Robles — on the coastline of Santiago, Ilocos Sur.
Initial investigation showed that the C-172 was conducting a touch-and-go procedure at the Vigan Airport and was supposed to be back on its home base in San Fernado airport in La Union when the accident happened.
Witnesses claimed they they saw the plane got caught on a zipline cable causing it to crash landed on the seashore.