July 7, 2011
The Grumman aircraft (Ag-Cat G164A)owned by the Aerowurkz Aerial Spraying Services, with registration no. RP-R 5859, crashed early morning Wednesday at the Isalom banana plantation in Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte, when its pilot Capt. Luciano Edgil disregarded a flight dispatcher’s warning that his aircraft was low on fuel and can only take an hour’s flight.The pilot was immediately brought to the hospital for treatment.
The Civil Aviation authority said the aircraft was spraying chemicals over the Isalon banana plantation when the plane lost power due to gas starvation.
Initial investigation revealed that there were two aircraft of the same type but with different engines, with the first aircraft having fuel allocation good for two hours of flying and the other for an hour.
Despite the dispatcher’s warning, Edgil made a pass and utilized the aircraft with limited fuel good for an hours flight which subsequently run out of fuel and crashed. He was not hurt, Melvin Dagon, CAAP Investigator said.
The pilot who had figured several accidents in the past might lose his license because of this accident which was clearly a pilot error, the investigator said.
"Capt Edgil will be asked to report to Capt. Amado Soliman, Aircraft Accidents Unit head, after his confinement in the hospital for personal evaluation of his license." Dagon added.
Aerowurkz Aerial Spraying Services Company engages in aerial spraying activity for crop growers, particularly big banana plantations in Mindanao.
No comments:
Post a Comment