Philippine Airlines Flight 215
Hawker Siddeley HS-748-209 Srs. 2 · Bomb explosion, cause unknown
From Cauayan Airport (CYZ) to Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 36 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Hawker Siddeley HS-748-209 Srs. 2
- Aircraft type
- Hawker Siddeley HS-748
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- PI-C1022
- Operator
- Philippine Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 36
- Route
- From Cauayan Airport (CYZ)To Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)
Approximate · Estimated position: Cabanatuan, near the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.
From the Wikipedia article
Philippine Airlines Flight 215 was a domestic Philippine Airlines flight from Cauayan Airport to Manila International Airport which exploded en route to Manila on April 21, 1970.
Crash
At 11:34am, captain Diego Liwag requested permission to make an instrument approach to Manila. Shortly after, while the aircraft was cruising at 10500 ft, a bomb exploded in the aircraft's lavatory leading to a rapid decompression and a complete separation of the tail section, leading into an uncontrolled descent and in-flight breakup before crashing into a rural area near Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija.
The flight was around 70 mi from Manila when the explosion occurred. All 32 passengers and 4 crew were killed in the incident, and wreckage was strewn across a wide area.
Investigation and cause
Investigation and aftermath
A bomb in the lavatory was the determined cause of the incident, though it was not able to be traced to an exact source. Possible causes included a suicide bombing, political sabotage contributed by limited airport security development at the time, though in the end was marked as "unlawful interference".
Text from the Wikipedia article “Philippine Airlines Flight 215” (revision 1370668953, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Philippine Airlines Flight 215
- Revision
- 1370668953 · 2026-08-22 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q7184947
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Philippine Airlines Flight 215" (page 17240846, revision 1370668953)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- place the Wikipedia infobox site links (Wikidata coordinates)
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.