Two aircraft crash, 75 minutes and 20kms apart.

[PeterB]

Two crop dusters crash in Davao del Norte. The second one of these came down in Ruby's father's banana plantation, destroying about 50 trees. I will go and take some photos later.

more ... (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/regions/view/20081201-175517/2-spray-planes-crash-in-Davao-Norte)

[keithAngel]

New Bermuda Triangle?:omg:

[PeterB]

possibly ... considering another crop sprayer crashed in Asuncion last week!

We went to view the damage at pa's plantation yesterday afternoon. The aircraft appears to have come in without power (or, at least, the prop wasn't spinning very fast - minor damage on two blades, but the third one bent right back under the engine), fairly steeply, with the port wing low but with starboard aileron applied. I took quite a few photos.

It is a good 20 minutes walk from the nearest vehicular access - my guess is that a chopper should be used to lift it out ... but is there a suitable chopper around these parts? The suggestion is that the aircraft will be cut up where it is and carried out in pieces.

It's reported that the aircraft was operated by a company based in Davao, owned by an 'Americano'. I have watched that particular aircraft on many occasions, as it swooped back and forth over the plantations. With three aircraft lost locally in the space of a week, I wonder how long it will be before any more aerial spraying takes place here.