In this case study we analyse the tragic flight of an Alouette II SE313B medical evacuation helicopter registration N45VX, which crashed off the coast of Palawan Island in the Philippines on Wednesday 1st March 2023. The helicopter was known locally as the ‘Yellow Bee’.
The helicopter departed from the North Mangsee Island at 08:56 local time, en route to the old Provincial Hospital at Brooke’s Point on Palawan Island. The helicopter was operated by PAMAS, a medical missionary society. On board was Daniel Liu the pilot, Janelle Alder a nurse, a patient and two family members accompanying the patient. The helicopter disappeared at 09:28 local time, whilst over the sea between the islands.
After several days of searching neither the wreck nor any of the five people on that aircraft have been located. On Monday 13th March 2023 we were asked to use our WSPR based technology to help locate the wreckage. We have been in regular contact since then with the search and rescue operation and more recently the underwater sonar search effort.
The calculated crash location is 7.8943°N 117.5165°E, which is 6.26 km south east of the last known point from the pilot’s GPS locator at 7.945990°N 117.493328°E on a bearing of 155.9°T.
This is a tragic accident and our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of those who have been lost.
The case study can be downloaded here
Dwayne Harris, the PAMAS director, informs us that they will resume the underwater search with a new boat and equipment on 21st April 2023.
The new boat is better equipped with sonar and magnetometers for the next underwater search.
According to Google Earth the water depth at the calculated crash location is 114 m.
Thank you very much for your work, please keep it up! Also, I think Netflix is just trying to rekindle everyone’s attention. In terms of attracting attention, absurdity is much more effective than seriousness.
@blackdonkey,
Welcome to the blog!
I agree with you that absurdity is more effective than seriousness in terms of attracting attention.
However, we want to attract the right attention in a serious manner. For example, Ocean Infinity see no added value in engaging with the media in speculation, fantasy or conspiracy theories and like myself have declined to participate in many so called documentaries including the Netflix fiasco.
@Richard.
Was there an outcome?
@David,
I have not heard anything from the Philippines.
I have emailed Dwayne Harris the director of PAMAS requesting an update on the underwater search.
the Malaysians definitely had planned this disappearance, a daughter of the plane had received a phone call from her dad who was a passenger on the plane, but couldn’t answer in time, many family members tried ringing their families and calls had connections and a ringtone, the family and friends begged the authorities to trace and take the lead to the connections… and they had turned them down, why? this could have been a safely restored plane instead all these theories and “debris” had been talked about when the Malaysian Airlines didn’t do anything and instead filled their bank account. If debris can wash on shore, then why not one single body or item was recovered… many items would have floated during the first few days of searching on the ocean, and not a single item had been tested or recovered… planes just don’t disappear that is a fact I the legal authorities that made the plane disappear and mock peoples minds. If Titanic had been recovered then how not large pieces of the plane, bodies, and traces of fuel, the plane was in the south china sea tomnod found debris but why the next day does the prime minister in Malaysia make an announcement to make us stop searching in the south china sea?? All members of the authority at the time were paid to keep their mouths shut and family and friends had to pay consequences. all news stations around the world had reported the news, but no country offered for Bejing to use equipment to track phone calls, reporters had been paid money to keep their mouths shut and well Inmarsat… can easily edit a radar read or communication. this story one day must be told, we won’t know what happened until we die and ask god ourselves.
@Maz,
You are not welcome on this blog!
Your comment has nothing to do with the tragic loss of the PAMAS helicopter N45VX.
The mobile phone call received by one of the next of kin has already been explained in previous comments on this website, as a reboot of the provider’s system.
The debris is not “theories”, there are 40 pieces of MH370, which you can hold in your hand. They are real!
MH370 floating debris was adrift in the Indian Ocean for 5 years and still found washed ashore somewhere and reported to the authorities.
Even a weighted body will normally float to the surface after three or four days, exposing it to sea birds and buffeting from the waves. Putrefaction and scavenging creatures will dismember the corpse in a week or two and the bones will sink to the seabed. Dead bodies will not travel the Indian Ocean for several years.
The Titanic sunk in 1912, which is 111 years ago. MH370 disappeared less than 10 years ago. You need a sense of perspective.
You offer no evidence that thousands of government officials and media reporters were paid money to keep silent. You need a sense of reality.
It is not possible to edit radar or Inmarsat satellite data in near real time, when it is distributed in near real time to other databases where we have the database logs and raw data. You need a sense of technology.
You do not have to wait until you die and ask God yourself, you need to do your homework before you comment.
All the data you need can be found on this website.