PLARIDEL, Bulacan – An Indian national and a Filipino flight instructor died when their two-seater Cessna CC150 training plane crashed yesterday at an irrigation canal embankment in Barangay Agnaya here, the Air Transportation Office (ATO) said.
Police Senior Inspector Victor Bernabe, deputy chief of police of this town, identified the victims as Captain Mike Bernardo, flight instructor of Flightline Aviation School, and his student pilot, Koshid Mohan, 19, an Indian national.
Representatives of the Flightline Aviation School and the ATO declined to comment on the incident pending investigation.
Flightline, located beside the Plaridel Airstrip at Barangay Lumangbayan here, is said to be owned by a certain Arnold Amano Sr.
Police said the victims were onboard the Cessna CC150 training plane and was seen heading south after taking off at the Plaridel airstrip at around 10:30 a.m.
The plane, for yet undetermined reason, crashed minutes later on an irrigation canal embankment just in front of a house at Barangay Agnaya.
Residents claimed that a few moments before the incident, they heard sounds of a chugging plane engine and saw the aircraft apparently heading north.
Sources said the cause might be due to human error or engine trouble. – Dino Balabo