THE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) on Saturday said the bodies of Capt. John Kaizan Estabillo and student pilot Paola Vianca Robles were recovered at 7:10 a.m. near a seaside resort in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
The two took off from Vigan Airport at 3:24 pm on Friday onboard a Cessna 172, on a training flight. They were reported to have crashed in the sea soon after they took off.
Divers from the Coast Guard substation in Candon, Ilocos Sur, conducted initial search in the area on Friday afternoon and reported seeing the aircraft and its passengers, but discontinued the recovery effort, owing to failing light, as it was near sundown.
The recovery operations continued on Saturday morning, and Coast Guard divers eventually brought the bodies to shore. The Caap said the aircraft, a Cessna C-172 with registry number RP-C7838, was practicing “touch-and-go” to hone Robles’s skill in landing and takeoff. The duo was to return to its home base in San Fernando Airport in La Union at 4:24 p.m.
Initial reports received by the Caap said the plane got entangled with the zipline cable and ditched near the seashore.
The Cessna plane is reportedly operated by Leading Edge Aviation.
Caap Accident Investigators Bert Dulay and Raineer Baculinao, are now conducting an inquiry.