Missing Piper plane found

The Philippine Air Force on Tuesday revealed that its Sokol helicopter has finally found the Piper Cherokee Plane RPC 1234 in the forest of Isabela province after went missing on 30 November.

PAF spokesperson Col. Consuelo Castillo said that the Air Force's Sokol — during a search and rescue operation — was able to locate the missing aircraft in the vicinity of Barangay Casala, San Mariano, Isabela province.

However, Castillo said the PAF's aircraft could not land nor come close to Piper Cherokee due to the strong winds and growing fog in the mountainous site.

"The aircrew were able to relay the exact location to ground forces for the continuous search on foot towards the aircraft's exact location," Castillo said.

She added that the PAF's Tactical Operations Group 2, a unit in charge of air operations in the area, noted that a civilian R44 aircraft of Lion Air also helped in the search operations for the missing Piper.

"The PAF commits the availability of its parajumpers and additional rescue helicopters from the 505th Search and Rescue Group for possible heli-rescue, once weather permits," Castillo said.

Meantime, the Incident Management Team also reported the discovery of the missing plane which took off from Cauayan Airport, Isabela at around 9:39 a.m. of 30 November and was expected to land at Palanan Airport.

The plane — owned by Fliteline Airways and operated by Cyclone Airways — was piloted by Captain Levy N. Abul II, with passenger Erma Escalante on board.

To recall, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said that the operations center of the Philippine Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre at the Cauayan Tower received a distress message with a code word "DETRESFA*" at around 11:08 a.m. of 30 November.

Its last position based on the Flight Radar 24's latest recorded blip is approximately 29.09 nautical miles east of Cauayan Airport.

Meanwhile, the PAF has committed the availability of its parajumpers and additional rescue helicopters from the 505th Search and Rescue Group for possible helicopter rescue once weather permits.