MANILA, Philippines – A trainer aircraft manned by an instructor and a student pilot made an emergency landing half a kilometer from the shoreline of Calapan City in Oriental Mindoro on Tuesday, December 8, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said.
The CAAP said in a statement on Tuesday that the Cessna 152 trainer aircraft – manned by Captain Angelo Zerna and student pilot Mark Mendoza – plunged into Oriental Mindoro waters at around 10:14 am.
Colonel Bert Dulay, CAAP Aircraft Accident Investigation Inquiry Board (AAIIB) lead investigator, said Zerna and Mendoza were immediately brought to the nearest hospital and were in stable condition.
The CAAP Operation and Rescue Coordinating Center (ORCC) said that the aircraft operated by Sapphire International Aviation Academy was conducting touch-and-go flight landing procedures when it encountered a malfunction.
The CAAP described said a touch-and-go landing is part of the training to fly a fixed-wing aircraft such as a Cessna 152. It involves landing on a runway and taking off again without coming to a full stop.
Dulay said that operations of the school’s same aircraft type was immediately suspended pending the investigation. – Rappler.com