What happened
On the morning of the accident, a non-scheduled domestic flight departed Manila International Airport at 09:43 local time, bound for Naga-Pili Airport. The aircraft was operating under a DVFR flight plan at an initial altitude of 7,5 Lack of difficulty was reported by the crew during the early stages of the journey. At 10:10, the flight transmitted its position over Alabat at 5,500 feet, providing an estimated arrival time at Pili Airport for 10:45.
Following this final communication, the aircraft disappeared from radar. An official search for the flight was launched at 15:15. During the process, the alert phase and distress phase were formally declared at 13:50 and 14:55, respectively. An aerial search operation was subsequently carried out. The search concluded after two survivors provided information indicating that the aircraft had crashed and caught fire on a steep, heavily forested section of Mt. Tangcong Vaca.
The wreckage was located approximately 19 NM northwest of Pili Airport at an elevation of roughly 1,500 feet AMSL. The impact is believed to have occurred at approximately 10:30 hours.
Findings
Investigations into the crash determined that the two survivors were the only individuals to emerge from the wreckage. The primary factor in the accident was the aircraft's operation within instrument meteorological conditions while flying under VFR, which led to a collision with the rising terrain.