The truth behind my brother’s plane crash yesterday
As my friend Ailene and I were getting ready to have lunch, she randomly read aloud a news item she saw on her twitter feed.
As soon as I heard that I went over to Ailene’s table and read a bit more of the news with her. I didn’t feel to good about it `coz just the other day, my youngest brother Capt. Paul Burns told me that Baguio was already one of their stops to “build their time” in flying school. (To build time means to fly x number of hours to qualify for the next level, commercial pilot training).
my brother Capt. Paul Burns and his girlfriend taken early this year
There were no names mentioned in the article, so I tried calling my brother to check on him but he wasn’t picking up. I then called his girlfriend and as soon as she picked up I asked if she was with Paul. When she said she was with him, I was relieved and told her that I thought he was the one mentioned in the news and then she said, “yup, that’s them” Then, like any sister who’s been like ‘mommy’ to her baby brother, I broke down. His girlfriend assured me that he was ok and that he only has a few bruises and wounds, but other than that he’s fine and that there’s nothing to worry about anymore.
Jen, Paul’s girlfriend, also mentioned that as soon as their plane crashed, an ambulance happened to pass by so they were given medical assistance at once. As soon as I heard that, I knew God sent that ambulance to help them – coz apparently it isn’t the ambulance’s usual route to pass that way!
At around 5:30pm we got to talk to Paul and he told us what happened. I’ll give you more details on that in a bit. Meanwhile, we were glued to our TV set to check what they’d say on the news. On 24 Oras, they said the Cessna 152 was making a u-turn on the runway then it turned upside down. Hmmm…something seemed wrong in that report because that wasn’t what my brother told me. This morning, I found loads of links talking about what happened yesterday and I spotted a bunch of wrong info so I had to ask my brother what really did happen. There’s nothing like knowing the truth, right?
The online news reports referred to them as: “its pilot and his student…” or “The pilot of the plane Captain Glen Pedraja and student pilot Paul Burns” or “the pilot, Capt. Glen Pedraha, and his student, Paul Burns” – let me correct this, for Glen and Paul’s sake. Capt. Glen Pedraja is NOT Paul’s instructor. Poor guy, this might go on his record and might affect his career. My brother also deserves the title Captain because he is also a private pilot, like Capt. Glen. When I asked Paul about this he said “we are both licenced private pilots ate. Both captains of the Cessna 152. He was in command, I was a passenger yesterday” I’m aware that this was a common scenario among private pilots that they’d really take each other on flights. They all trusted each other because they knew they were all getting the same excellent training from Omni. These guys have been working so hard to be able to qualify for the next level, to train for Commercial Pilot status. So for the record, they’re both Private Pilots building time (They’ve both flown over 100+ hours, in good and bad weather)
I also asked Paul about this report: “Reports from the regional Office of Civil Defense and the police said the plane bounced twice off the tarmac as it descended at 9:27 a.m. and landed with its wheels turned up to the sky on a grassy portion near the runway.” Paul assured me that they did not bounce. He said it’s called a ground effect. They floated but experienced more lift than the usual float. Then a strong gust of wind drifted them quickly to the right side of the runway.
The two-seater Cessna 152 plane they were in. Photo from Philippine Star
When I asked him about this: “Emmanuel Carantes, a resident of Barangay Loakan near the airport, said he saw the aircraft bobbing as it approached the runway.” (the aircraft bobbing?! That doesn’t sound good) Paul said Glen flew a good approach. Paul was apparently calling out how they were doing all thru out the approach. (Knowing Paul, he really does this. He even explains everything as he practices on his flight simulator program on his computer at home. He is soooo like dad!) I was worried if it was the weather but Paul told me that skies were clear but that does not mean wind was not present. Baguio airport said that although they gave them “wind calm” as the status, they said there are instances that small ipo-ipos (small whirlwinds) are present in the runway. That is what they think hit them coz they were on the center of the runway then next thing they were on the edge of the runway in an “unrecoverable state” – Can I just say that I love how he explains this things to me as if I knew exactly what he means! Just like our dad, I tell you!
That being said – they weren’t making a U-turn when this all happened, as opposed to what was on the news, 24 Oras, last night.
When I asked how Capt. Glen is, my brother said he’s doing ok and just has a lump on his head (bukol). Nothing major. My brother just has wounds and bruises, but other than that, they’re both ok. Thank God!
I have to admit though, that my brother is kinda weirded out and upset about how he’s reading and hearing all this wrong info on the news. Here are two of the links posted on his page (which I checked out, of course):
http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=600042&publicationSubCategoryId=67
I’m writing this blog in response to my brothers question: “what ever happened to truth in Journalism?” As a member of the media too, I wish I could defend you guys, but the info really is wrong, which is why I chose to write this story….the truth from a sister’s perspective of what really happened.
Hello realities of being a single working mommy and a soon-to-be-wife! Just when I was building that momentum of working out in the morning, my son Kristo got the flu the first 3 days of the week, then my fiance Rommel got the flu the second half of the week! The week after I caught the flu and a really bad cold didn’t leave me til a week ago!!! (the perks of having a ‘big’ nose!!!) 
