Stude pilot, instructor hurt in Loakan crash

By Dexter A. See

BAGUIO CITY — A Cessna trainer plane overshot the runway while landing at the Loakan Airport, here, morning of August 5, inflicting injuries on the pilot trainer and his American student.

Senior Supt. David Lacdan, newly-installed director of the Baguio City Police Office, identified the victims as Capt. Glen Pedraja, a pilot of the Clark-based Omni Aviation Flying School and American Paul Alexander Verns.

Initial police investigation showed the four-seat single-engine plane was about to land when the pilots lost track of the runway under foggy conditions and prevailing strong winds from tropical storm “Domeng.”

The plane was heavily damaged as it overshot the runway, crashed into the barrier, and onto a grass field.

Police Insp. Carolina Desiderio, station chief of the PNP Aviation Security Group at Loakan Airport said the landing gear of the plane with tail number RPC 8864 overshot the runway that caused the aircraft to turn upside down around 9:27 a.m.

“We cannot yet ascertain what really caused the accident pending investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines,” Desiderio said.

The Cessna 152 is still widely used worldwide by private individuals and flying schools.

Benhur Gomez, president of Omni Aviation Flyng School, told radio station dzBB that the ill-fated aircraft is one of three trainer planes that conducted cross-country training flights from Clark Field to the Loakan Airport.

He said cross-country training and landing in several airfields in one day, is a requirement for student pilots before they can be certified as commercial pilots.