CITY OF MALOLOS, Philippines — Investigators on Friday said they would look into the radio communication between the pilot and the airport control tower to determine what caused the helicopter that carried businessman Liberato “Levy” Laus and two others to crash here on Thursday.
Eric Apolonio, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) spokesperson, said they would review the radio links between the Eurocopter H130 T2 chopper and the tower before the plane plunged into a fishpond.
Aside from Laus, the crash also killed his bodyguard, Wilfran Esteban, and the chopper’s pilot, Capt. Ever Coronel.
READ: Pampanga business magnate Levy Laus, 2 others dead in Bulacan chopper crash
CAAP air crash investigator, Harry Paradero, said they had ruled out the weather condition or overloading as the cause of the crash. He said the chopper had a maximum carrying capacity of seven passengers.
He also said investigators would re-assemble the retrieved parts of the plane and “subject these to a thorough investigation.”
The helicopter left the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 12:28 p.m. on Thursday for the City of San Fernando in Pampanga province.
A fishpond caretaker, Reynaldo Borlobgan Jr., 33, said they heard an explosion before the chopper plunged. He said they believe the pilot tried to avoid crash landing into a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refilling station near the fishpond.
Other villagers said they noticed thick smoke coming from the plane before it crashed. /ee