MANILA, Philippines - Nine months after the ill-fated Piper Seneca plane that ferried the late Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo went down off Masbate, its emergency locator transmitter (ELT) finally emitted a distress signal – somewhere north off the coast of Pangasinan.
An official of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) revealed yesterday the transmitter locator of RPC 4431, a chartered plane carrying Robredo and his aide, was detected by a search and rescue (SAR) compass in Hong Kong at 12:45 p.m. on May 15.
The information was relayed to the CAAP operation center which, in turn, alerted the Lingayen airport in Pangasinan, the official said.
Officials explained that an SAR alert is on a possible crash of an airplane. SAR is like a global positioning system that detects the exact location of a missing aircraft.
However, it turned out that the signal was for an Ameri-King Model 406 ELT coming from a Beechcraft Sierra aircraft RPC 1038 owned by Fast Link Flying School based in Muntinlupa City.
“The electronic signal belonged to the Piper Seneca RPC 4431 but it was attached to another aircraft,†the official said, raising the possibility that the plane that ferried Robredo had a defective ELT or had no such device attached to the aircraft.
Capt. Robert Lasala, owner of Fast Link Flying School, confirmed that one of their Beechcraft Sierra aircraft’s ELT emitted a distress signal while undergoing engine check at the airport in Pangasinan.
Lasala told The STAR that the ELT of their aircraft was accidentally turned on while undergoing engine check-up and they had to manually shut down the device.
Lasala said he bought the ELT from the late Jessup Bahingting, owner of Aviator that operated the ill-fated Piper Seneca.
He said the electronic signature of the ELT was supposed to be transferred to the Beechcraft but the application that he signed was not processed.
“It’s a blessing in disguise so we make the necessary action to ensure the safety of our aircraft,†Lasala said.
Pilot error and a defective engine were said to be the cause of the plane crash that killed Robredo. Bahingting was the pilot and his student, Nepalese Khshitiz Chand, were also killed in the crash on Aug. 18 last year.
Robredo’s police aide, Senior Inspector Jun Abrasado, however, managed to survive and was rescued by passing fishermen.
The plane was en route to Naga City from the Mactan International Airport in Cebu when it went down off Masbate.