RP chopper crashes in Cebu

By Ronron
January 27, 2008

A chopper of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) crashed last Saturday afternoon at a mountainous village in Cebu province allegedly due to pilot error.

No one was hurt, the PAF and police said on Sunday.

According to a PAF statement, the aircraft involved was a UH-1H “Huey” helicopter with tail number 757 that came from Iloilo and was bound for PAF Air Base in Lapu-lapu City, Mactan Island, Cebu.

The PAF information office said the crash happened at around 5:10 pm, while police said the place of accident is Sitio Mayana, Barangay Biasong in Balamban town.

The PAF said the ill-fated chopper was originally on test mission, particularly for a Flight Commander Qualification Course and Pilot Course Qualification Course Formation Flight, from Mactan to Iloilo.

It was piloted by Captains Nilo Arañez and Jackray Mosomos, with their crew members, Staff Sergeant Jose Marie Interado and Sgt. Leovigildo Depdera.

The chopper took off from Mactan at past 6am that day, and flew back to Mactan from Iloilo at around 3pm.

On its way back to Mactan, it had a jibed mission to pick up some soldiers bound for Cebu who will attend a wedding of a colleague with the PAF and the interment of another colleague who died. The PAF information office was not immediately aware, however, how many soldiers boarded the chopper as passengers.

It was when the chopper was hovering over Balamban area as it was heading back to Mactan that the accident happened.

“Initial findings disclosed that the pilot missed the right mix of the aircraft power to make a smooth landing during a training lesson for flight commander,” the PAF statement said.

It said that the supposed landing at said place was really part of the test mission.

Balamban town police chief Supt. Anthony Bagarinao said in a phone interview that the chopper landed in between two cliffs surrounded by trees. He noted that the area was already used in previous RP-US Balikatan exercises.

Bagarinao said the chopper was in total wreck – its blades twisted and its body distorted, after the accident. It is a good thing that the chopper did not blow up or went ablaze, he added.

Bagarinao said the pilots, crew members and their passengers managed to walk towards the village proper in Biasong, located some four kilometers from the crash site. It was during the course of their walk that barangay officials met and assisted them.

The PAF said the accident is somehow expected from said flight missions because “the pilots are using a helicopter instead of a simulator.”

“This usually happens in training lessons in which the result would be very expensive and even tragic,” the PAF said.

Meanwhile, pending completion of the investigation on the mishap, the PAF grounded the two pilots. The investigation is being conducted both by the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing Safety Board and the Air Force Safety Office.

And since it was an apparent pilot error, the remaining Huey choppers of the PAF will not be grounded, the PAF said.

To avoid possible intrusion of “non-friendly forces” that may attack the ill-fated chopper, the PAF said it sent three flights of security personnel – two from the Quick Reaction Force of the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing and one from the PAF’s 710th Special Operations Wing – at the crash site./DMS