THE Philippine Navy announced the grounding of all its AW-109 helicopters following an accident in Isabela involving one of the choppers where a pilot was slightly injured.
Navy chief Vice Admiral Adeluis Bordado said last Sunday that all five AW-109s have been grounded pending the results of the investigation into the mishap involving one of the helicopters.
However, Bordado refused to comment further on the incident, the investigation of which is being conducted with the help of the helicopter manufacturer.
The five AgustaWestland helicopters were acquired a couple of years ago by the Navy for a variety of missions, including maritime surveillance, search-and-rescue and maritime security.
A statement released by Navy Spokesman Cdr. Benjo F. Negranza said the involved AW-109 helicopter figured in a mishap at around 2 a.m. on September 26 in Lal-lo, Cagayan.
“The incident happened when the aircraft was attempting to land on its designated station after it returned from conducting a mission in support of Northern Luzon Command’s Internal Security Operations,” Negranza was quoted in the statement as saying.
“The pilots and crew sustained very minor injuries and only stayed in the medical facility as a matter of medical procedure,” he added.
However, as Bordado clarified, only one of the two pilots has sustained a minor abrasion. The chopper has two pilots and two crews.
Reports said that the chopper, barely three feet from the ground, “tilted” as it attempted to land.
This is the fourth mishap involving military aircraft in 10 months.
The first one involved a Huey helicopter by the Philippine Air Force that crashed in Samar early this year. An Air Force Blackhawk helicopter also crashed in Tarlac while on a night proficiency training during the middle part of this year, killing its pilots and crews.
In August, an Air Force C-130 plane went down while attempting to land in Sulu, killing 50 soldiers and injuring 46 others. Three civilians who lived near the crash site were also killed.