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The two pilots and two crew members of the UH-1H Huey helicopter that crashed in a vacant lot at barangay Jubay, Liloan Tuesday afternoon were ordered grounded, or not allowed to fly any other aircraft, pending the results of the investigation.

Brigadier General Arthur Mancenido, commander of the 205th Tactical Helicopter Wing, yesterday said it is the Philippine Air Force’s standard operating procedure to forbid personnel from flying during the course of investigation after an accident. 

The PAF 205th Helicopter Wing is based at the Mactan Benito Ebuen Air Base. Its four men that survived the helicopter crash were the pilot, Captain Roderick Lindog, co-pilot Capt. Cherrylane  Laporteza, and the two crew members, Sgts. Apolinario Sumikad and Joseph Abrigo.

Mancenido said the pilots and the crewmen, who were on a training flight when their helicopter crashed, were directed to issue their respective statements in relation to the accident.

“It was actually a training on autorotation, which is about the manner of landing safely during emergencies. The pilot, when he was about to terminate his autrotational landing, na-miscalculate niya at yung tail rotor tumama sa ground, causing the accident,” said Mancenido.

The crashed helicopter is now deemed unserviceable because its tail boom section and main rotor blade were severely damaged.

The investigation of the crash of the UH-1H Huey helicopter in Liloan last Tuesday has included verification of accounts of witnesses that a woman and a child were allegedly on board the helicopter at the time of the accident.

Mancenido said the PAF does not allow civilian passengers onboard an aircraft, especially during training flights.

Two witnesses told The Freeman, in an interview, that when the helicopter started flying around the field, they allegedly saw a woman-wearing a pink shirt and black shorts-and a boy (about 7 years old and in a blue and white T-shirt and black shorts) aboard the aircraft.

They alleged that, after the crash, the woman was seen limping as she went out of the helicopter together with the crewmen and the child. No one suffered major injuries except for bruises in some part of their bodies, the witnesses alleged.

A Huey helicopter crashed in Lapu-Lapu City last month, which caused the death of nine people. The crash was found to have been caused by kite strings that got entangled with the aircraft’s swash plates.

All 42 helicopters of the PAF were grounded at the time but a week after when the investigation ended, the order was lifted. — Flor Z. Perolina/RAE