Plaridel, Bulacan (CNN Philippines) — A pilot and his student died shortly after their Cessna 152, a single-propeller plane commonly used for training, crashed on Tuesday afternoon (September 15) at about 300 meters from runway 35 of the Plaridel Airport in Bulacan.
The pilot, 40-year-old Capt. Arthur Rebollido, was pronounced dead on arrival at the Bulacan Provincial Hospital in Malolos town. One of the witnesses, Anthony Donayre, rushed to the crumpled plane and tried to help him.
“Pinulsuhan ko. Wala na akong nakuhang pulso,” Donayre told CNN Philippines.
[Translation: “I felt for his pulse but there was none.”]
Rebollido’s student, 24-year-old Jame Oquialda, was taken to the Dr. Peralta Hospital nearby, where he was pronounced in stable but critical condition with a fractured skull.
He was transferred to the bigger Our Lady of Mercy Hospital in Pulilan town for an operation. But he died at around midnight.
Touch-and-go exercise
As this writing, on Wednesday, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has started an investigation to determined whether it was human error or mechanical failure that caused the crash.
According to CAAP, the plane was doing a touch-and-go exercise before it crashed.
A touch-and-go exercise calls landing on a runway and the taking off without stopping.
Some witnesses said the plane was flying too low after its takeoff at around 4 p.m. on Tuesday.
Five minutes after taking off, the plane then suddenly plunged into the backyard of nearby cockpit arena.
Other witnesses said the plane was in flight for five minutes when its engines suddenly stopped, sending the plane down.
CNN Philippines would still have to verify this report.
In an interview with CNN Philippines, witness Donayre said he doubted whether bad weather caused the crash. He said it was raining earlier but it had already stopped when the plane took off.
The crash site is is part of the property of the Rendevous cockfighting arena.
There were a few houses spotted nearby, but the area is not really residential.
The plane, reportedly owned by Fliteline Aviation, landed just a few meters from the house of a caretaker who was reportedly not home when the incident occured.
CNN Philippines Paola Palma and Rex Remitio contributed to this report.
