Philippine Pilots

                 It was a fine day at Cauayan, Isabela. I thought that it would be a nice day to fly. Just a few days before I lost a classmate in the air force reserve and the remains of my classmate and his captain and their 5 passengers has not been found yet somewhere in the mountains of this area. All of a sudden someone asked me if I could fly as a safety pilot for one of the students. Finally a flight from Cauayan to Tuguegarao. The student at that time had 80 hours of flight time. I thought this would be an easy flight. After lunch I met the student on the ramp and I told him to make a 360 inspection of the plane. We are going to fly a Cessna 152. A 2 seat propeller airplane. The mechanic attending to our plane asked me if I would like to add more fuel. I asked how much fuel is on board. He said said 9/9 meaning 9 gallons on each tank. It was a short flight so I signaled that there is no need.
               
                So finally we took off. About 30 to 40 minutes we landed at Tuguegarao. I asked our mechanics there if the Islander (a ten seat twin engine airplane) is arriving soon. The Captain (Capt. Sonny) and the co-pilot (Charles) are friends and I would like to see them before we left. The mechanic said they are about a few miles inbound. When the Islander arrived I said hi to my friends and told the student to file our flight plan. After filing the flight plan Charles and I said our good byes. I told the student to make a 360 check after which we boarded our plane. My student asked permission to line up but we were told that an airline is about to land in about 30 minutes and we were told to shut down our engine until the airline has landed. While waiting, the mechanic asked if we could bring the exhaust of the islander with us to have it fixed at Cauayan. When the airline flight landed, the mechanic told us that Cauayan informed them to just send us home without the exhaust.

                 We took off at around 3:30PM. Enroute I noticed that it was a bit hazy. Below us, I can see some farmers burning some grass of some sort. It was a usual site in farmlands. Our airplane was equipped with a VOR so I was so sure that even if we lost our visual reference the VOR will point us home. But I noticed that whenever the CDI or the needle centered, it deflects to the right. Of course that would  be an indication that we need to turn to the right as well to be able to make the needle center again. But everytime it centers it deflected to the right, We reported to Cauayan that we are inbound at 2000 as instructed by Tuguegarao Radio. Cauayan told us to maintain 2000 for vertical separation from airplanes heading our way. Then it started to rain slightly. I heard a pilot from the airplanes inbound that they are also experiencing light precipitation. I thought ok we have slight preciipitation and they have the same. the weather on both sides are going to be bearable. Visibility became zero very quickly. I had high simulator time and flying instrument was normal for me. My student however was beginning to sweat a lot and he started descending. When we got to 1500 feet, I told him that there are inbound airplanes and that we might end up colliding with those planes. I can see my student looking very nervous because rain was beginning to go stronger and stronger. I was also beginning to feel scared but I do not want the student to know. I told him to hold our altitude and to never let go of the controls. I kept my eyes on the instruments. Wind became bad to worst in just a few seconds.

               We were now being battered by heavy precipitation and strong winds. Suddenly the student yelled Captain, I can't control it anymore! I can't control it anymore! He was trying to turn the airplane to left but it kept going to the right. I tapped the yoke towards the left 3 times but it was not doing anything and I thought "windshear! My God Wind shear!!!" Before i could react I heard the scariest sound a wind can ever make. 2 very strong swooshing sound which sounded like the devil and I felt the airplane go right then left. I remember the last thing I yelled was don't let go of the controls. The student covered his face with his hands screaming. That hit which turned the airplane to the left was a very strong one and all I heard after the second hit was high airspeed. Unlike when the airplane enters a stall, airspeed would pick up slow at first. With that second hit it sounded like woovsh then it sounded like the sound of Japanese Kamikaze planes diving. I felt like a fly that was hit by a hand of a man. The worst part of that second hit was that the cover of our instrument panel detached and I could not see the instruments anymore. I quickly grabbed the controls. I put the throttle into idle, turned a bit to the right and pulled up slightly and I felt the airplane rise. I pushed the cover of the panel and while doing so, I saw from the student's side of the window from the gap in the clouds some cars below. I checked our altitude. We dropped from 2000 feet to 700 feet in just a couple of seconds. From then on I tried to maintain 700 hundred because if I go up to 1000 I could not see anything at all. And from then on it was a continuous struggle to maintain 700 feet. Strong updrafts brought us up to 1500 in just 2 seconds. The student was screaming Captain pleeeeeease. I reported to Cauayan that we will try to head back to Tuguegarao. I reported to Tuguegarao and the controller started to make my struggle a lot more difficult from then on. I felt my cellphone vibrating. But I couldn't answer. I can't let go of the controls. Every time I tried to check our compass the plane rises violently. It was very hard to see the compass because it was dark.  I told the student, "I am going to save your life. He glanced at me. I continued, "Don't you believe me?" He nodded. But then the updrafts and swish swooshing left to right continued and the student would occasionally scream but not as bad as before. Lightning was all over us and my student yelled "Captain that was close!" every time lightning appeared near us. Tuguegarao radio controllers sounded irritated and kept asking me for my position. It was so dark that I could not see our compass indication. Plus of course falling from zero visibility with our instrument cover detached got us disoriented of our present position. Tuguegarao radio controller was angry because it was already 4:00 PM and the guy told me that they extended their time because of me. The guy spoke like he knows what is happening to me and my student. Every 20 seconds Tuguegarao Radio would call and yell at me. The irritating part is that our radio is equipped with a microphone and not a headset and it was difficult battling strong winds and having to pick up the microphone to answer. Finally after a few more minutes, I caught site of Cagayan River from below (or at least as far as I know that is what it is called.). I thought loose everything else in sight except this one. I got annoyed at Tuguegarao radio controllers and just declared that we will be heading back to Cauayan. after a few minutes of following Cagayan River I spotted a clearing. We got out of the clouds and everything suddenly became bright. I checked our compass, we were heading south. And I climbed to 2000 feet. When I tried to cruise at 2000 feet the airplane continued rising up to 2500 and I had to put the throttle on idle again. I pushed the nose down and the airplane continued to cruise at 2500 for a couple of minutes.I could see everything from below. Occasionally I yelled at the student to check the map for our location. he would check it and the answer is always the same. I don't know Captain I don't know.... in near tears. Suddenly I heard someone trying to make contact with us from our base in Cauayan. It was one of our mechanic. he asked for our position and I told him we are almost there.I asked the student if he can find Cauayan, He pointed a bit northward to a village a few miles from our position and it turned negative. The reason I went to where he was pointing is that I know he should be more familiar with the area. So again I headed south, I caught site of Cauayan and spotted three of the landmarks I saw on our way out earlier. The student told me that he don't think that we were at Cauayan already. I assured him that we're there. I asked him if he can grab the controls now. In near tears he refused saying I cannot Captain I cannot. I was trying to figure out how I can get his confidence back. I passed over the airport and I saw his face light up. I asked him again to land the airplane. This time he grabbed the controls, when he confirmed that he's got it, I let go. When we touched down, the student smiled and told me Captain, I still can't believe we're alive.

                   We were able to land at 4:45 PM. The moment we went down I told everyone what happened. The mechanic who attended to us called me and pointed at the burn that was not supposed to be there. I checked my cellphone and Charles was the one calling me. I called him up and he said they were worried because 2 air force helicopters were forced to come back due to bad weather and I was right in the middle of that weather. I thought, " I don't remember getting so scared, but when I checked my hands, they were shaking like hell that I had to hide both in my pockets. The moment I sat down, was the moment I started asking myself why did that ever happen to me. What did I do wrong. Why was I not able to differentiate haze with clouds. And then that's when it hit me that I almost left my family. I did not call my wife right away for fear that I might breakdown. That night, the mechanic told me that the back of our plane from inside was so wet. You can just imagine the strong precipitation that hit us.

                    For many days after that, I would look at the skies and still can't believe that I made it out of that ordeal and that I almost joined the world of the dead. I have learned to respect mother nature. She must never be challenged. That was the longest battle for survival that I have ever encountered. I know that if something like that happens again, I can control it. But of course, I don't want that to ever happen again.