Air Force still probing cause of chopper emergency landing Tuesday in Cebu

By Ronron
May 23, 2007

The Philippine Air force (PAF) spokesman said Wednesday that it has yet to learn the cause of the emergency landing the other day (Tuesday) of a Huey chopper in Cebu province.

Lt. Col. Epifanio Panzo, Jr. said officials of the PAF 205th Helicopter Wing based in Lapu-lapu City, Mactan Island in Cebu have yet to wrap up their interview with the pilot of the ill-fated chopper, Capt. Roderick Lindog, to determine initially the cause of the mishap that happened less than a month since a similar type of helicopter crashed in Lapu-lapu City, killing nine people.

A UH-1H chopper made an emergency landing at around 3:15 pm last Tuesday at a rice field in Sitio Cabancalan, Barangay Jubay, Liloan town for still unknown reasons.

Panzo said there were only four people – two pilots and two crew members – aboard the ill-fated chopper, and that none of them were hurt.

The four were identified as Captain Roderick Lindog, First Pilot; Captain Cherrylane Laforteza, co-pilot; Sgt. Apolinario Sumicad, crew chief; and, A1C Joseph Abrigo.

But the Liloan Municipal Police Station said two other civilians – an unidentified adult female and a boy - were aboard the downed Huey, and the female sustained fractures after the incident.

Told about this, Panzo said: “I don’t have that report. I talked to the commander of the 205th Wing. But if ever that is true, that is supposed to be against the regulations because it was a training flight. We will apply the full force of the law.”

Panzo said the downed chopper was acquired by the Philippines from Singapore in 2005 and was refurbished.

Asked if the accident would prompt the grounding again of all Huey’s, Panzo said: “I don’t think so because it was just a case of an emergency landing.”

The PAF has a total of 42 Huey’s in its inventory, more than 30 of which are operational at any given time, but it was reduced by two following the April 28 crash in Lapu-lapu City and last Tuesday’s crash-landing.

The April 28 incident, which was caused by a kite nylon cord that got entangled with the rotor of the chopper, claimed the lives of two PAF personnel and seven civilians who were aboard two motorcycles where the chopper fell over./DMS