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Post by EXO on May 18, 2012 19:30:23 GMT 8
From The Inquirer, dateline 18 May 2012.
MANILA, Philippines—A two-seater trainer plane of the Philippine Air Force crashed in an island in Bataan Friday morning, a military official said.
The two PAF officers on board the Aermacchi SF.260 aircraft when it went down in La Monja island in Mariveles were missing, Lieutenant Colonel Miguel Ernesto Okol said.
The plane, which was on a proficiency flight, took off from Sangley Point at around 6:55 a.m., but failed to return at the expected time, Okol said.
“It was already overdue, so we alerted our search and rescue teams thereafter and dispatched them,” he said.
Okol said search and rescue operations were on-going.
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Post by darthdract on May 18, 2012 21:04:48 GMT 8
I did not hear this during the evening News Both news networks are focusing with Col Faeldon and American Idol.
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Post by The Phantom on May 19, 2012 4:12:01 GMT 8
PAF Plane Crashes 2 Air Force Officers Still Missing By AARON B. RECUENCO and JENNY F. MANONGDO May 18, 2012, 7:23pm
MANILA, Philippines - An Air Force trainer plane crashed off Bataan yesterday morning, triggering a massive search and rescue operations in the area to locate the two pilots who remain missing.
Lt. Col. Miguel Okol, spokesman of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), said the wreckage of Italian-made SF-260 was spotted near La Monja Island, five kilometers west of Corregidor and between Cavite and Bataan.
“A passing fishing boat bound for Mariveles reported a two-seater plane that crashed approximately one nautical mile off La Monja Island,” Philippine Coast Guard commandant Vice Admiral Edmund Tan said.
Okol said the plane, carrying Maj. Neil Tumaneng and 1Lt. Michael Arugay, took off from Sangley Point in Cavite at around 6 a.m. for a proficiency test.
“We confirm that SF260 TP Warrior Number 716 has crashed in the vicinity of Mariveles,” said Okol, as he revealed that they have yet to hear about the fate of the two officers.
But Senior Supt. Ricardo Zapata, Jr., director of the Bataan Provincial Police Office, had the bad news as the information he received from the chief of police of Mariveles revealed that a helmet was already recovered in the crash site.
“Recovered from the sea were one fuel tank, a helmet, and a plane seat,” said Zapata.
With only two hours flight endurance, he said they immediately sent search and rescue teams after the plane did not come back by 8 a.m.
“There was no distress call or mayday call,” said Okol.
Okol explained that the plane was among those acquired by the Air Force in the mid-1990s, stressing that it is not among those which were acquired a few years ago.
The SF260 TP Warrior is an Italian-built aircraft that has been reconfigured from what was originally the PAF’s trainer plane into a light attack combat utility aircraft.
The aircraft is highly maneuverable and fully acrobatic making it a very competent aircraft to conduct close air support, battlefield air interdiction, reconnaissance, combat air patrol and escort, and forward air control missions.
Okol said all the remaining SF260 planes of PAF were grounded as part of the standard operating procedures.
The Air Force has been hounded with accidents involving decades-old planes in the past years that resulted in several deaths and injuries in some of its pilots.
Recently, President Benigno S. Aquino III expressed interest to include Air Force in the priority of military modernization, the recent pronouncement was the planned procurement of fighter jets.
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Post by The Phantom on May 19, 2012 4:19:30 GMT 8
Above article from the Manila Bulletin... The following from the Manila Times.
Note the differences in the reporting.
Plane was to land on Corregidor in the second article and La Monja island is spelled a little differently. .......... Lamonia island
2 pilots killed in plane crash along shoreline of Bataan
Published : Saturday, May 19, 2012 00:00 Article Views : 238 Written by : WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL REPORTER
APhilippine Air Force (PAF) trainer plane with two pilots aboard crashed along the shoreline of Bataan province.
PAF spokesman Lt. Col. Miguel Ernesto Miguel, on Friday said the SF260 TP with body number 716 was on a proficiency flight when it was reported missing.
“The plane was already overdue so we alerted our search and rescue teams thereafter and dispatched them. By around 11 a.m., with the Navy, we were able to confirm some debris of the crash,” Okol said.
Okol did not identify the pilots of the ill-fated plane until their families were informed of the incident.
But the Philippine Coast Guard identified them as Maj. Neil Tumaneng and 1st Lt. Michael Arugay.
Col. Generosa Bolina, spokes-man for AFP Southern Luzon Command, said the plane took off from Sangley Point in Cavite at around 6 a.m. for a training flight to Corregidor Island off Bataan when it was reported missing.
At around 11:45 a.m., he added, they received reports that fishermen saw a plane wreckage in the vicinity of Lamonia Island, near Mariveles town in Bataan.
In April last year, an Air Force S-211 trainer plane also crashed in Bataan moments after it took off from Clark Air Base
In July 2010, an S-211 plane likewise crashed while in a training exercise in Concepcion, Tarlac but the two pilots survived.
On February 25, 2010, an OV-10 Bronco plane also crashed in Capas, Tarlac, killing the two pilots on the spot.
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Post by sherwino on May 19, 2012 19:26:14 GMT 8
That's explain the media vehicles in here. I thought they were lost.
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