Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Three crew killed in Antonov AN-12BP freighter crash in the Philippines

by B. N. Sullivan

Three crew members were killed and three others were injured when a chartered Antonov AN-12BP aircraft crashed in the Philippines on the evening of April 21, 2010. At the time of the accident, the aircraft (registration UP-AN216) was operating as Pacific East Asia Cargo Flight Q8-7815 from Mactan-Cebu International Airport (CEB) to Angeles City-Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (CRK). The aircraft impacted a rice paddy several miles southeast of the airport, near a town called Mexico, where it broke up and burned.

The Aviation Herald, quoting the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), says that "the crew reported a fire on board a few minutes prior to impact with the crew attempting to get the airplane onto the ground immediately." Those on board were said to be nationals of Russia, Uzbekistan, and Bulgaria.

News reports from Philippine media indicate that the aircraft was operating as a charter on behalf of UPS.

UPDATE: FlightGlobal, quoting the director-general of the CAAP, reports that aircraft was on a wet lease to Interisland Airlines, a charter operator in the Philippines.

The CAAP official also said that the aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been recovered.