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Saturday, October 22, 2005
'Spy plane' found in Clark
By Reynaldo G. Navales
CLARK ECOZONE -- Two workers here recently found what they described as a "sophisticated unmanned US spy aircraft," which was first reported to have crashed and missing somewhere in Clark last February.
The alleged spy plane, equipped with a camera, recording device and other sophisticated-looking gadgets, was about five feet long, with each wing stretching about three feet each, said Edwin Dizon, one of the two workers who found the unmanned aircraft at the roof of Puregold duty free shop here last October 5.
Dizon said he and co-employee Renato Magsino saw the aircraft on the duty free shop's roof during their regular maintenance work.
He said an hour after they found the aircraft, two Philippine Air Force (PAF) personnel arrived, followed by an American who identified himself from the US embassy, and carted off the aircraft.
The aircraft, he added, was apparently brought directly to the US embassy.
"The PAF men shouted several times when they saw the aircraft, whose wings had already been detached from the body," Dizon said.
It was learned that the aircraft was standing on its nose on the roof, with its wings detached.
"It was not really heavy so it did not cause damage on the roof when it crashed," Dizon said.
He claimed that the aircraft was a US spy plane, citing a small sticker on its body saying "104 pointer spy plane". "Its body seemed to have been made of dirty white plastic with a camera perched between the wings and other sophisticated devices attached to it," he said.
Dizon and other Puregold personnel produced a document indicating they turned over the aircraft to personnel of the PAF 600th Air Base Wing based stationed here.
The document showed the identification card of Staff Sergeant Dennis Baldonado who was among those who retrieved the aircraft.
Dizon admitted they expected a reward from the US embassy for their discovery, but the air force personnel who helped the American retrieve the aircraft would no longer answer their queries on the supposed reward.
Marciana Guinto, administrative officer of Puregold, said she also saw the aircraft before it was carted off by the air force men and the American.
"We were the ones who insisted on having an acknowledgement document to show we turned over the aircraft to them," she said.
Brigadier General Gilbert Llanto of the PAF said the aircraft indeed belonged to the US military and was reported missing since the US-RP joint military exercises at the Clark in February this year.
Based on its trajectory, the aircraft was estimated to have crashed on Lily Hill. PAF men were organized to toothcomb the hill but they found nothing, he said.
But Llanto said while the aircraft was immediately taken to the US embassy and no photograph of it was taken, it could have been an experimental remote-controlled aircraft being tested by the US military.
"It's not the type of those satellite-controlled unmanned aircraft which has wide coverage and used by the US military to penetrate targets without endangering expensive equipment and the lives of pilots," he said.
According to him, the aircraft is a radio-controlled unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is being used extensively by the US military during Balikatan exercises here.
Captain Burrell Parmer of the US Marines, however, said he was not aware of any spy plane being used in the RP-US military exercises. He declined to answer questions about the discovery of the spy plane at the Puregold, saying he was "not qualified" to give answers, as he asked the queries be directed to the US embassy. (Sun.Star Pampanga/Sunnex)
(October 22, 2005 issue)
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