| - | ACCIDENT DETAILS |
| Date: | August 18, 2012 |
| Time: | 1625 |
| Location: | Off Masbate Island, Philippines |
| Operator: | Aviatour's Fly'n Inc. |
| Flight #: | ? |
| Route: | Cebu-Naga |
| AC Type: | PA-34-200 Seneca I |
| Registration: | RP-C4431 |
| cn / ln: | 34-7350051 |
| Aboard: | 4 (passengers:2 crew:2) |
| Fatalities: | 3 (passengers:2 crew:1) |
| Ground: | 0 |
| Summary: | While en route, the crew of the chartered flight radioed they were making an emergency landing at Masbate Airport due to engine problems. The airplane then crashed into the sea and broke apart off the shores of Masbate Island some 980 ft away from the island's airport. An investigation found that improper maintenance led to the right engine suffering an internal failure, which likely would have caused misfiring and intermittent operation of the fuel pump. The failure was gradual and the aircraft developed engine problems 23 minutes after take off. However, instead of turning back to Cebu, the pilot decided to continue the flight, until the engine failed completely, 37 minutes later and the aircraft crashed during the subsequent attempt to land at Masbate. The investigation determined that the pilot didn't use the correct procedure for trying to land a Piper Seneca with one engine inoperative, in that he lowered the undercarriage and flaps too soon; and that during his last flight proficiency test he had not been tested with respect to flying with one engine inoperative. |
Sources
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