A spray plane being maneuvered by an agricultural pilot crashed after hitting a live wire while conducting an aerial spraying in a banana plantation in Davao del Norte yesterday morning, police said.
A police report reaching Camp Crame, Quezon City identified the fatality as Jessie Kevin Lagapa, 25.
Initial investigation disclosed that Lagapa was flying a Grumman G-164 Ag Cat, a single-engine biplane agricultural aircraft, when the accident happened.
The plane got entangled in a high-tension live wire in a banana plantation between Barangays Kasilak and Mangalcal in Carmen and Panabo, respectively, around 6:15 a.m., authorities bared.
The plane also hit a power transmission line, dealing damage in the aircraft’s air frame, engine and propeller, authorities said.
Investigators from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’ Aircraft Accident and Incident Inquiry have been dispatched to the site to assess the accident.
They said the pilot must have been blinded by the sunlight so he did not see the live wire. (Martin A. Sadongdong)
