Philippine Air Lines Flight 345
Fokker F-27 Friendship 100 · Loss of control on approach due to improper weight distribution
From Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL) to Mactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)
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
- 12 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- Unknown
- Survivors
- 7
- 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
- 7
- 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
Fokker F-27 Friendship 100
- Aircraft type
- Fokker F-27
- 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-C501
- Operator
- Philippine Air Lines
- Onboard fatalities
- 12
- Route
- From Ninoy Aquino International Airport (MNL)To Mactan Cebu International Airport (CEB)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
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 345 was a domestic flight operated by Philippine Air Lines that crashed on approach to Mactan–Cebu International Airport, Cebu.
On February 28, 1967, the aircraft was several miles before Runway 04 when it suddenly pitched upwards in a nose-high attitude. Passengers were instructed to move to the front of the plane to equalize the load distribution, however before everyone could comply, the aircraft began banking left and right, before descending and crashing 0.9 mi just before the runway threshold.
Accident
Flight 345 departed Manila at 17:20 PHT on an IFR clearance directed to Mactan via the "Amber I" airway at 13,000 ft. At 19:08 the pilots reported that they were descending through 6,000 ft and requested a visual descent to 3,000 ft, and 5 minutes later reported that they were going to begin a VOR approach to Runway 04. At 19:17, Mactan Approach gave the flight clearance to land, however this would be the last communication from the aircraft.
Approximately 4 mi from the runway threshold at 1,500 ft, the aircraft suddenly pitched upwards in a nose-high attitude, and full throttle was applied. A crew member then left the cockpit and instructed some people to move to the front of the cockpit in an attempt to equalize the load distribution. Moments later another crew member instructed all the occupants to move forward, however before this was done, the aircraft began to bank left and right, before descending in a tail low attitude.
The left wing hit a coconut tree and some banana trees before striking the ground with its wingtip for around 10 ft, before the left propeller also struck the ground and separated from the engine. The aircraft then nosed over and slid on its back, catching fire and destroying the fuselage.
Emergency services and fire engines arrived at the scene 25 minutes after the crash.
The wreckage was scattered over an area 80 ft in diameter. Evidence revealed that there was no prior damage contributing to the crash, and that the flaps were retracted and the elevator trim tab was found in the full nose down position.
Investigation and cause
Cause
The crew were properly certified and the aircraft was regularly maintained. Weather conditions were fine at the time of the crash, and no findings of malfunction of the engines and aircraft prior to impact were found. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Board labelled the probable cause as a loss of control at low altitude, however determined that a contributing factor was the improper distribution of load which placed the centre of gravity aft of the rear center of gravity limit.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Philippine Air Lines Flight 345” (revision 1370669818, 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 345
- Revision
- 1370669818 · 2026-08-22 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q124803432
- 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 345" (page 76178700, revision 1370669818)
- 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.