The Special Investigation Task Group, Air Force Safety Unit, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) have joined forces for the inspection of the the Bell 429 chopper crash site in San Antonio, San Pedro, Laguna.
Air Force Safety Unit Director Thorsten Ajello said the place was found by Philippine National police (PNP) as a “suitable landing area.”
The task group said in the meeting that it will first collect all the statements of the witnesses, videos, pictures, records of the chopper, and other pertinent information to determine the cause of crash.
“As we go along, we will collate all of these documentation, lalapit tayo sa mga (we will get closer to) findings and eventually sa ating mga (to our) recommendations,” PNP Deputy Chief for Operations Guillermo Eleazar said.
The group said they are looking at different angles such as pilot error and air worthiness.
The police have also confirmed that the chopper did not have a black box, but allows for data collection that can yield retrieved information.
The task group assured the residents in the site that the crashed chopper is safe and is under monitoring, and will hopefully be removed by Sunday or Monday next week. The PNP administration is willing to settle and pay for the damages incurred by the crash.
But the PNP has suspended all other chopper operations due to the accident. – Report from Allan Francisco
