Island Nation’s Civil Aviation Authority Expresses Alarm

The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is a Southeast Asian archipelagic nation comprising some 7,641 islands—principal among which are northerly Luzon, southerly Mindanao, and the interposing Visayas chain. The Philippines covers an area of 120,000-square-miles and, as of 2021, had an ethnically and culturally diverse population of some 109-million people—making it the world's thirteenth-most-populous country.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) expressed alarm over the high number of mishaps involving Cessna aircraft over the last four years. According to CAAP records, the period spanning 2019 to 2022 saw 33 incidents and accidents involving Cessna light, single-piston engine, and one multi-piston engine aircraft.

Citing data compiled by the Philippines’ Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board, CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio set forth that Cessna aircraft mishaps numbered: ten serious accidents, 13 moderate or minor accidents, and ten incidents.

By year, the 13 accidents recorded were suffered by: two C172s (2019), three C152s (2019), one C152 (2020), two C152s (2021), one C150 (2022), one C206 (2021), one C206 (2023), and one C340 (2023). The latter accident was the only recorded Philippine mishap to involve a Cessna twin-engine aircraft.

By year, the ten serious incidents recorded were suffered by: one C152 (2019), two C172s (2019), two C152s (2020), one C172 (2020), one C172 (2021), one C172 (2022), and two C152s (2022).

By year, the ten incidents recorded were suffered by: one C152 (2019), four C172s (2019), one C152 (2020), two C172 (2020), one C206 (2021), and one C172 (2022).

The CAAP, consistent with FAA criteria, defines aircraft accidents as occurrences wherein aircraft occupants incur fatal or serious injury, and aircraft sustain catastrophic or serious damage—most often defined monetarily—or are lost, missing, or completely inaccessible to salvage—as in deep jungle or open-water mishaps.

Conversely, the CAAP defines serious incidents as occurrences involving circumstances that indicate a given aircraft operation instantiated a high-probability of accident. Such instances are characterized by significant but repairable aircraft damage and non-incapacitating or non-fatal injuries to aircraft occupants.

Finally, the CAAP defines aircraft incidents as occurrences that affect or could affect the safety of aircraft operations. Examples of such instances are flat tires during taxi or low-speed takeoff roll, propeller strikes to taxiway or runway lighting, and ground-loops that do not result in aircraft upset or occupant injury.

The sole multi-engine Cessna accident involved a model 340, twin-piston, pressurized, business aircraft that went down in the island of Luzon’s southeastern Albay province. The accident occasioned an extensive search and rescue operation in which personnel of the Philippine Army and Bureau of Fire Protection participated.

FMI: https://caap.gov.ph