Manila - Mactan

On March 8, 1968 at 07:18 PM, Manila - Mactan experienced a crash involving Fairchild F27, operated by Air Manila International, with the event recorded near Ibajay Aklan.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a lake, sea, ocean, river crash site.

14 people were known to be on board, 14 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 4, crew fatalities: 4, passengers on board: 10, passenger fatalities: 10, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is weather. Flight UM507 was a scheduled domestic flight from Manila International Airport to Lapu-Lapu/Mactan International Airport. Before departure the pilot was briefed by the Air Manila dispatcher on the existence of a cold front across the route and was provided with an en-route weather forecast valid from 1200 to 2400 hours which mentioned "Isolated thunderstorm over Eastern Visayas and generally fair elsewhere". No information regarding thunderstorms on the route was given to the pilot. The flight took off from Manila at 1814 hours and was cleared to Mactan at FL 130 by the ATC, via Track 5, Amber 4 and Amber 1. The flight plan proposed an airspeed of 210 kt and an estimated time en route of 1 hour 45 minutes. Normal radio contact was maintained at all time between the flight and the air traffic services. At 1908 hours the flight reported over Romblon at FL 130, estimating Mactan at 1954 hours. This was the last message from the aircraft. Several residents of Ibajay, a coastal town in Aklan, stated that at approximately 1918 hours they had heard a sound similar to that of an aircraft flying at high altitude in a southeast direction along the coastline. They then heard several loud explosions and saw fireballs falling into the sea. They all agreed that the initial fire- ball they saw could not have been the result of a prolonged fire, but rather a small fire which rapidly developed into a large orange-yellow-red ball and then disappeared. After a few moments, smaller fireballs emerged from the large one, some dying out before reaching the sea, some reaching the sea and developing into a large fire. At the same time a large object resembling an airplane was seen to emerge from thick clouds and fall into the sea followed by a trail of smaller objects. Approximately one hour later two bodies were recovered from approximately 2 km offshore of Bo. Colong-Colong, Ibajay, Aklan.

Aircraft reference details include registration PI-C871, MSN 19, year of manufacture 1958.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 11.8025°, 122.2180°.