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Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Chopper, another Huey, crashes: woman injured
By Mia E. Abellana
CEBU CITY -- Barely a month after the grounding of all Huey UH-1H helicopters was lifted, another Philippine Air Force Huey helicopter crashed in a field in Liloan town Tuesday afternoon.
But unlike the fatal crash in Humay-Humay Road in Lapu-Lapu City, no one died or was severely hurt.
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However, the pilots will have to explain the alleged presence of an 18-year-old girl and a younger boy in the training flight.
The helicopter crashed in Sitio Cabangcalan, Barangay Jubay, Liloan at 3:15 p.m.
PAF officers identified the passengers as pilot Captain Roderick Lindog, co-pilot Captain Cherrylane Laporteza, Sergeant Apolinario Sumikad and Sergeant Joseph Abrigo.
Lieutenant Adolfo Navales, the PAF maintenance officer sent to the crash site, said they could not confirm if a teenaged girl and a boy were among the passengers, saying the only list they had were members of the crew.
However, witnesses and the official police report stated that a teenager and a boy emerged from the fallen helicopter.
The police report stated they were unable to identify the female passenger and a young boy because they “all boarded another helicopter that arrived minutes later.”
Crew safe
Teams from PAF aboard two other helicopters arrived at the crash site to secure the area.
Lieutenant Navales said the helicopter could seat nine other passengers on top of the four crew members.
However, they would not confirm if the two civilians were onboard.
They assured, though, that all crew members were safe and only suffered bruises from the impact.
Witnesses attested they saw the woman and boy.
Johnphil Kurt Angtid, 10, said he was picking coconuts when he and his friend Angelo Sasing, 9, noticed the helicopter hovering about.
They noticed it descending until it suddenly lurched back up.
However, the helicopter’s tail hit the ground and its tail rotor continued spinning.
Prohibited
That’s when the helicopter flipped and landed on its side, its main rotor detached.
Tanod Roberto Tayong echoed the same observations in radio interviews.
The boys told a Sun.Star news team that the passengers helped themselves out of the helicopter.
The woman was reportedly Tagalog-speaking and wore a white shirt. “Ang bata pareho namo kadak-a (The boy was about our age),” the boys said.
Nursing students conducting an immersion activity tended to them before they were picked up by another helicopter.
A PAF officer who refused to be named said there were maneuvers in training flights that were extraordinary, which was why they would not allow civilians to ride the helicopters while on training flights.
This training flight was similar to the one being conducted by the PAF crew that crashed in Humay-Humay road.
Huey safe
He added that Barangay Jubay was one of the landing sites they used in training flights.
Asked about the helicopter’s condition, he assured it was a safe aircraft.
“We will not fly if the aircraft is not airworthy. Though these are old, they are properly maintained,” he assured.
The PAF officer and Navales denied there was a discrepancy, which came out in earlier radio reports.
“Wala talagang nakitang discrepancy, initially,” Navales said.
They are checking factors that led to the crash.
Asked if the weather was a factor because heavy rains fell in some parts of Metro Cebu Tuesday, Navales said it was sunny the time the crash occurred.
He explained that helicopters are checked before and after flight and undergo preventive maintenance. What the public doesn’t understand is that only the bodies of the helicopters are old.
The engines and parts are replaced after a certain period, he added.
There are more than 30 Huey helicopters at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Airbase, where they are deployed for air evacuations and troop transfers.
Navales also categorized Tuesday’s crash as a “hard landing” based on the damage.
The commander of the 2nd Tactical Operations Wing based in Mactan confirmed the training flight’s accident, but Colonel Mario Lacson could not give details pending the investigation.
Meanwhile, manager Rodolfo Perez of the Air Transportation Office (ATO) in Mactan said they cannot investigate the mishap, because accidents involving military aircraft fall under the jurisdiction of the Philippine Air Force (PAF).
The ATO only participated in the investigation of another Huey helicopter’s fatal crash last April 28 because they were requested by PAF Commanding General Horacio Tolentino. (Sun.Star Cebu/With EOB)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Pangasinan. (May 23, 2007 issue)
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