Buried engine prevents probers from determining cause of crash

CLARK FIELD, Pampanga — The investigation into the crash of Philippine Air Force (PAF) OV 10 combat aircraft last Jan. 24 was stalled by the failure to dig out the plane’s left engine and instrument panel which were buried deep in the mud in a fishpond in Barangay Dinukot in Paombong, Bulacan.

"Even helicopters could not pull them out," Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla, PAF spokesman, told The STAR yesterday.

"The remaining 13 OV-10 planes of the Air Force will therefore remain grounded until probers have ascertained the exact cause of the accident," Padilla said.

He also clarified that Capt. Aniano Amatong Jr., who died in the crash, had attempted to eject from the plane, but only after successfully preventing his aircraft from hitting a cluster of households. Amatong’s co-pilot Capt. James Acosta survived the crash.

While investigators have determined that a malfunction in the left engine was the probable cause of the accident, the exact cause could not be determined without examining the engine as well as the instrument panel.

"We now have two options — to dig up the buried parts or first dry up the fishpond so that they can be pulled out more readily," he said.

Once recovered, the left engine would be "torn down" to enable probers to examine its parts.

"The recovery of the instrument panel is also vital since the panel records important data it could have stored at the time of the crash," Padilla noted.

Residents in the area said they heard two explosions which, according to Padilla are normally produced by the ejection process. The first was triggered by Acosta’s bailing out, and the second by Amatong’s.

Padilla noted that Amatong could have ejected successfully had he not opted to first steer the plane to the left to avoid clusters of houses in the area.

"But when he finally ejected, the plane was already veering to the left and this prevented him from having enough time to position his legs to prevent them from hitting the edges of the narrow cockpit," he said, noting that Amatong’s remains indicated leg lacerations.

The ill-fated OV 10 of the 15th strike wing based at Sangley Air Base was on its way to Clark to join the US-RP joint attack exercise.

This, even as Padilla noted that only about six US Army soldiers were at Clark for the exercises being held under the Visiting Forces Agreement.