Philippine Air Force C130 Missing

[L1011GE]

Just been made public on the news here.

GMANews.TV - PAF C-130 plane carrying 9 crewmen reported missing - Nation - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News - BETA (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/116062/PAF-C-130-plane-carrying-9-crewmen-reported-missing)

ABS-CBN News Online (Beta) (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=129256)

[herkman]

The PAF only have two maybe three C130 aircraft that are still flyable.

Fleet is in poor condition with deep depot work many many years overdue.

Nine crew members on board, all presumed lost, contact with the aircraft was lost only two minutes after take off. Does not look good.

Our comrades in the C130 world, we salute you and to all the families left behind we feel your sorrow.

Col

[L1011GE]

Wreckage and bodies found

GMANews.TV - PAF: Recovered debris were from missing C-130 - Nation - Official Website of GMA News and Public Affairs - Latest Philippine News - BETA (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/116153/PAF-Recovered-debris-were-from-missing-C-130)

They have or had 2 serviceable c130's both built in 1971. (according to the news)

[taxydual]

Just an observation, seeing as the latest news was reported at 1200 Phillipines Local Time. The PAF, seemingly, don't bother much with KINFORM. Names and pack-drill straight to the press. I may be wrong, their system maybe superbly efficient, but..........

[L1011GE]

The Crash happened at about 2100 local time on 25th Press informed 0900 on 26th.

Work it out.

[L1011GE]

Hercules goes down in Davao Gulf; 9 missing - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080827-157033/Hercules-goes-down-in-Davao-Gulf-9-missing)


Hercules goes down in Davao Gulf; 9 missing

By Tarra Quismundo, Nikko Dizon, Joselle dR Badilla, Inquirer Mindanao
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:59:00 08/27/2008

MANILA, Philippines—As the workhorse C-130 transport plane roared into the night sky, the veteran pilot advised air traffic control at Davao City that he was turning left on a time-tested path toward Iloilo, an hour’s flying time away.

Then the Hercules plane—one of only two operational C-130s in the Philippine Air Force’s fleet—was heard from no more.

Some 14 hours after the aircraft piloted by Maj. Manuel Zambrano Jr. went off the radar, coastal residents started retrieving human body parts and plane debris, including pilot manuals, identification cards, a flight plan, pictures and combat boots, on shores not far from the airport.

As of press time Tuesday night, no survivors have been found but rescue teams said they were not ruling out the possibility of people being still alive.

Officials have found no lead on how the 37-year-old, 37.6-ton plane ended up in fragments at sea.

Besides Zambrano, eight other Air Force personnel were aboard the plane, officials said. It had not reported any sign of trouble before it crashed.

Midair explosion

There were conflicting reports on the weather prevailing at the time of the crash.

Air Force officials said the night skies were clear but some rescue officials said on television that the residents had told them there was a squall blowing and that they saw lightning and heard “an explosion” before the plane went down.

Originally, the plane had come from Luzon and ferried Scout Rangers to Davao for deployment in the military’s campaign against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the military said.

The Hercules then took off for Iloilo at 8:51 p.m. on Monday to pick up at least 100 officers of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) and fly them to Manila, according to Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog.

Minutes after takeoff, contact was lost. That was after Zambrano’s last message saying he was making a left turn onto the regular air route, a routine maneuver.

Crash site

The military said the crash site had been spotted at 600 feet deep of water between Davao City’s Sta. Ana wharf and Talicud island just across from the city. Searchers reported seeing oil slick and bubbles.

Early Tuesday night, the head of a search and rescue team said a silhouette of what could possibly be the main body of the crashed C-130 had been detected.

Navy Capt. Rosauro Gonzales, task force commander, told reporters by phone that while there had been no “visual per se” of the plane’s wreckage, a fish finder sonar reflected a cylindrical object on the sea bed that seemed to be the body of an aircraft.

Gonzales said the object lay 600 feet deep and 2.5 nautical miles southwest of Samal Island.

The military does not have an equipment that could reach objects that have sunk that deep, Gonzales said.

Possible survivors

Gonzales said the search and rescue team had not ruled out the possibility that there could still be survivors from the crash.

“It’s just day one and we could say that in rescue operations in disasters such as this, you don’t discount that there are survivors in the first 24 hours,” Gonzales said.

Cadungog, for his part, said: “We still can’t officially conclude that there were no survivors but all indications are leading to that.”

A list provided by the Air Force information office in Manila showed the C-130 was also carrying copilot Capt. Adrian de Dios and seven air crew: TSgt. Constantino Lobrigas and Staff Sergeants John Areola, Gary Diñoso, Felix Pedro Patriarca, Patricio Claur Jr., Aldrin Illustrisimo and Petronilo Fernandez.

Probe under way

Two Army personnel were also reportedly aboard the C-130 but their identities were not immediately known, according to sources from the Air Force in Davao.

Air Force officials in Manila said that only the two pilots and seven crew members were on board but that they were checking the Davao report.

“Let’s hope there are people alive,” Maj. Armand Rico, spokesperson of the Eastern Mindanao Command, said in Filipino.

Air Force officials said the cause of the crash was still being investigated.

Venerando Serafica Jr., a resident of Bucana, said he saw the plane flying low above his house around 9 p.m. He said he could hear its loud engines and he saw its lights on.

From his porch, Serafica said he saw the plane “nosedive” and he later heard a sound similar to an object hitting the water.

“It was drizzling so I grabbed an umbrella and went outside. I wanted to find out what happened to it but I could not see anything,” Serafica said.

He said he was hoping authorities would soon arrive “but until 11 p.m., nobody arrived.”

No sign of trouble

Among the debris found on the shoreline were “a head (and) body parts,” PAF information chief Maj. Gerardo Zamudio Jr. said.

A dismembered foot and fingers, limbs, a scalp, and tattered military uniforms were recovered on the shore, members of Gonzales’ rescue team said.

Cadungog said the ID of Fernandez, one of those aboard, was among those recovered on the Agdao district shoreline.

Earlier on Monday, Maj. Donald Madarang, a pilot, flew the same plane from Manila to Laoag City and back before turning it over to Zambrano. He said it carried navigational documents similar to those recovered in Davao’s shores.

Madarang said the C-130 showed no sign of trouble during the two hours and 15 minutes he handled the plane.

What a C-130 is

Air Force officials considered the crash the worst military aviation accident in recent memory and the second involving a C-130 cargo plane, the military’s workhorse used in troop and supply transport.

A C-130 crash was recorded in Naga City in the 1990s, officials said.

“What I’m very much saddened about is our pilots and crew,” Cadungog said.

The all-weather C-130 is a product of Lockheed and is a four-engine turboprop. The crashed plane was manufactured in 1971 and commissioned by PAF in 1983.

Capable of takeoffs and landings from unprepared runways, the C-130, which was originally designed as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft, has been in continued production for the past 50 years already.

Bearing a newly replaced engine, the plane was carrying around six hours worth of fuel when it took off, said PAF officials.

Pilot error unlikely

Without drawing any conclusions from raw reports from the ground, Cadungog said pilot error was unlikely given Zambrano’s long experience as a C-130 pilot and flight instructor. The Air Force also believed weather could not have been a problem.

Still, investigators said they would look at all angles, even the possibility of sabotage.

“Right now, we keep on reviewing our security procedures. Until such a time we can’t get any evidence, we will not discount any factor,” Cadungog said.

He said the plane’s age could not have been a factor; all PAF planes had been well-maintained.

The Air Force has sent a 16-member investigation team to find out what really happened.

“We will look at all possible angles,” said the investigation team leader, Maj. Gen. Jovito Gammad.

[L1011GE]

Manila Bulletin Online (http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN20080827133543.html)


9 feared dead in PAF plane crash
spacer
Wreckage, 2 bodies found in waters off Davao City
Air, sea search continues for lost transport plane

By MIKE CRISMUNDO, RONNIEL DE GUZMAN, ANJO PEREZ, LOUIE PEREZ, SARAH HILOMEN, YUL MALICSE, and ASSOCIATED PRESS

CAMP PANACAN, Davao City – The wreckage of a Philippine Air Force (PAF) C-130 Hercules transport plane carrying two pilots and seven crew members that went missing shortly after takeoff from the Davao International Airport Monday night has been recovered off the shore of Davao City, the military said yesterday.

Rescuers recovered the bodies of two of the passengers.

Maj. Armand Rico, EastMincom spokesman, said the identities of the two victims whose bodies were found were temporarily withheld pending notification of their next of kin. Meanwhile, rescue operations continued in the coastal area of Bukana, located between Davao City and Samal Island.

Authorities identified the aircraft’s pilot as Maj. Manuel Sambrano and his co-pilot as Capt. Adrian de Dios, both graduates of the Philippine Military Academy Class 1999 and both considered seasoned military flyers.

The crew members were Flight Technical Sergeant Constantino Lobregat and Staff Sergeants John Arriola, Gerry Delioso, Felix Pedro Patriarga, Petronilo Fernandez, Patricio Claur Jr., and Aldrin Ilustrisimo.

Authorities said they have not ruled out sabotage in the crash, which occurred while the military was engaged in pitched battles against separatist Muslim rebels in Mindanao.

A search team from the Air Force, Naval rescue, and the military’s Eastern Mindanao Command (EastMincom) found the wreckage about three kilometers from the shore of Barangay Bukana, San Pedro Extension, Davao City. at 6 a.m. yesterday.

PAF chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog said earlier that search and rescue operations for the missing military cargo aircraft centered on an area within 20 miles of the Davao International Airport.

Wreckage believed to be parts of the transport plane and human body parts were recovered as early as Monday night.

With the help of fishermen and villagers from Barangay Bukana and Agdao Village in Davao City, rescuers plucked aircraft parts from the sea, including metal shards and plane tires, as well as personal items such as combat boots, military uniforms, identification cards, and driver’s licenses.

Fishermen also salvaged what seemed to be an aircraft flight manual in an area between Samal Island and Davao City at around noon yesterday, Cadungog said.

The recovered items were brought to the Barangay Hall of Barangay 76-A Bukana, Talomo District, Davao City, where an emergency meeting of concerned agencies was held yesterday.

Col. Isagani Silva, commander of the TOG 11, said that the plane arrived in Davao at 6:37 p.m. Monday, and took off at 8:51 p.m. the same night, bound for Iloilo.

Chief Supt. Andres Caro II, regional director of the Police Regional Office 11 (PRO 11) and chairman of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council (RDCC), immediately activated the Task Force Rescue, headed by Capt. Rosauro Gonzales of the Naval Forces of the EastMincom for search and rescue operations. The team is composed of the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippnes, Philippine Coast Guard, and other concerned agencies.

Cadungog said the said four-engine turbo-prop aircraft was recently serviced by mechanics and had a new engine and auxiliary power unit installed last August 15.

"We’re still verifying as to what really transpired because this is something very unusual… the aircraft and the pilots were all OK before take off and everything was normal until that time," he said.

The weather was reported clear at the time of the crash.

The plane took off from the Davao airport at around 8:50 p.m. Monday for Iloilo City to pick up personnel of the Presidential Security Group and fly them to Manila. The aircraft served as a troop, medical evacuation, and cargo transport aircraft.

Cadungog said the plane was set to arrive in Iloilo about 10 p.m. Monday, but around 10 minutes after take off, authorities lost contact and later declared the aircraft missing.

"We initiated search operations as early as around 10 last night, " Cadungog said. "The last communication from the pilots was one minute after takeoff when they were given instructions to turn left for Iloilo City."

Cadungog sent out search planes, including two Australia-made Nomads, three UH-1H "Huey" helicopters, an S-76, and a Beechcraft 200 to look for the missing plane. A US long-range patrol aircraft also joined the air and sea search.

Rescue teams on board Navy and Coast Guard vessels were also dispatched to the Gulf of Davao by the Navy.

"Navy chief Rear Admiral Ferdinand S. Golez immediately dispatched PN vessels, including DF340, EW175, and UV 471, to the area at around 1 a.m., making the first group of seacrafts to be sent to the area," said Navy public information chief Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo.

Shortly thereafter, Philippine Coast Guard commandant Vice Admiral Wilfredo D. Tamayo, informed of the incident by PCG Mindanao district commander Commodore Lino Dabi, immediately sent PCG SARV-3501 (BRP Ilocos Norte) and one PCG Islander skippered by LtSG Dexter Torres and LtSG Raymund Santos, respectively.

According to Arevalo and Cdr. William Isaga, PCG Civil Relations Service (CRS) chief, the control tower of the Davao International Airport flashed an alarm to air and transportation agencies that communication with the ill-fated C-130 was cut off or was lost at around 9 p.m.

Davao police investigator Joel Parojinog said residents from a coastal village reported to police they recovered from shore two combat boots, human body parts, and some documents, including a C-130 manual.

He said they reported seeing a plane around 9 p.m. Monday "going down into the sea with flames on one of the wings," followed by an underwater explosion.

Cadungog said the Air Force requested assistance from the US and a long-range aircraft was expected to join eight Philippine planes and helicopters in the search.

Earlier Monday, the plane transported combat troops from Fort Magsaysay, an Army base in Nueva Ecija, to Davao, a major southern airport on the edge of the coast, Cadungog said. A second C-130 operated by the Air Force was grounded as a safety precaution.

The central and western parts of Mindanao island have been the site of intense fighting between troops and Muslim rebels. The military has been pursuing three commanders of the MILF and their men who were blamed for killing dozens of civilians and pillaging communities in three southern provinces last week.

AFP Vice Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Cardozo M. Luna, in charge of ongoing offensive operations against rogue commanders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao, said air assets of the PAF are very vital in their campaign.

Cadungog did not speculate what might have caused the plane to crash, but said sabotage is "always a possibility," especially because the Air Force was leading the operations against the rebels.

Air Force helicopters and planes have been hitting rebel hide-outs "so if you read from that, you will know that if there is one force that the enemy would want to strike, it would be the Air Force," Cadungog said.

But he said the rebels did not have weapons that could shoot down a plane flying at more than 3,000 feet (900 meters). At the time the plane lost contact, it was estimated to be flying at about 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) and climbing, he said.

The aircraft was acquired by the Philippine government in 1983, but was built in 1971. Cadungog said it is not the age of the airplane that counts in airworthiness, but the excellent maintenance, preparedness, and experience of pilots.

Cadungog said the Davao Gulf incident was the first of its kind to happen

[gubaclagan]

Any update on the C-130 retrieval from the deep? Any further investigation done? Thanks for any information!

[larssnowpharter]

A US Navy ship came into the Gulf of Davao and has located the wreckage. It is - according to reports - lying at a depth of between 400 and 500ft and is reasobaly intact.

Debate now going on as to whether to recover it or not.

Accident being used by the local politicos to try and get money to install radar at Davao airfield.

[L1011GE]

Last report I read it was to expensive to recover.
I will find it today and post

[gubaclagan]

If ever the plane can not be recovered and investigated then we will never find out what was the cause of the fatal accident. This is a model aircraft that's why it has been dubbed as All-Weather Aircraft. I have devoted 7 years flying this type (L100-20). Please, give any further information, if you can!

[Fox3snapshot]

Just an observation, seeing as the latest news was reported at 1200 Phillipines Local Time. The PAF, seemingly, don't bother much with KINFORM. Names and pack-drill straight to the press. I may be wrong, their system maybe superbly efficient, but..........

Welcome to our world, the media outside of the sheltered workshops of the western world don't mess around when it comes to these issues.

Like it or lump it the newspapers and visual media services in Arabia, Asia and many other countries offer in your face up front 'graphic' and a non-personal approach to daily news reporting. The 'shock horror' campaigns as we call them in the more conservative parts of the world form part of the normal media processes in these and other parts of the world.

Not sure whether I agree or not but hey, 'what to do?'

:sad:

[gubaclagan]

Gentlemen, any further update regarding this issue? Shall we just leave important informations from the deep blue ocean? I hope that the proper authorities will do something valuable for the next generation, i.e., coming up with recommendations for a more airworthy aircraft like the C-130...the most forbidding airplane flying then and now!:ok: