What happened
On a scheduled flight from Bacolod Airport toward Mactan, an aircraft departed at 18:33 local time. Approximately ten minutes after takeoff, while the plane was in its cruise phase, it collided with the side of Mt Kanlaon, situated roughly 34 km southeast of the departure airport. The impact occurred during a period of degraded weather visibility.
Search efforts located the wreckage several hours following the collision. There were no survivors among the 21 fatalities recorded on the aircraft.
Findings
The investigation revealed that the crew was operating under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) despite encountering Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). The primary factor in the accident was the decision to commence the flight under VFR while weather conditions were poor and characterized by low cloud ceilings, which required instrument-based navigation.