Philippine Air Lines Flight S26
Douglas DC-3C · Controlled flight into terrain
From Iloilo-Mandurriao Airport, Iloilo City, Philippines 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
- 33 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 33
- 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
Douglas DC-3C
- Aircraft type
- Douglas DC-3
- 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-C133
- Operator
- Philippine Air Lines
- Onboard fatalities
- 33
- Route
- From Iloilo-Mandurriao Airport, Iloilo City, PhilippinesTo Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Environmental issues › Conditions/weather/phenomena
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Not plotted · Not plotted: the Wikipedia article gives no coordinates, and its site names no town or airport that matches exactly.
From the Wikipedia article
Philippine Air Lines Flight S26 was a domestic flight that departed from Mandurriao Airport in Iloilo on 23 November 1960 at 17:33 PHT to Manila International Airport near Manila.
At 18:33 the crew gave its last position report before crashing on the slopes of Mount Baco in the island of Mindoro at 6,000 ft. When it failed to give a position report at 19:00, attempts were made to contact the aircraft on all frequencies, but were unsuccessful.
Investigation and cause
Probable cause
The probable cause was possibly a navigational error, as there were adverse weather conditions, poor visibility, a 25 knot eastern crosswind and a possible malfunction of the airborne navigational equipment due to atmospheric disturbance and night and terrain effects.
The pilots were expected to follow an airway "Amber-I" which was a straight line above Romblon however it was found that the aircraft had deviated around 30 miles from the initial flight path. Investigators could not understand how an experienced captain would have deviated from his flight path by 32 miles. Other flights flying in front and behind Flight S26 stated that the visibility throughout the area was fine, and that the pilots would have safely reached their destination using visual flight rules even if both of the aircraft's ADFs failed.
It was suggested that the aircraft had drifted from its flight path due to crosswinds that resulted in the aircraft flying over Mindoro, and the crew were not alarmed because of the poor visibility.
After the crash, relatives of deceased passengers filed lawsuits against Philippine Air Lines for moral damages, income losses and legal fees. Though in one case the airline had denied the accident due to negligence, overall they were ordered to pay over to in damages to families of the deceased passengers.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Philippine Air Lines Flight S26” (revision 1370669117, 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 Air Lines Flight S26
- Revision
- 1370669117 · 2026-08-22 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q112160829
- 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 Air Lines Flight S26" (page 70778912, revision 1370669117)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- none
- 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.