Woman pilot tapped for ME evacuation

She could well be the Angel of Mercy.

Philippine Air Force (PAF) Lt. Rowena Ayudan will be there to pluck overseas Filipino workers stranded in Baghdad should war between the United States and Iraq erupt, and her wings, though not white, will shelter her countrymen.

Ayudan, 30, is part of the 18-member PAF team designated to fly a C-130 transport out of Mactan Air Base in Cebu to Baghdad to evacuate the OFWs who could get stranded there if a shooting war erupts in the Middle East.

Assigned to the 222nd Airlift Squadron of the 220th Airlift Wing based in Mactan, Ayudan is the co-pilot of the lone C-130 plane to be used in the emergency evacuation. She was hand-picked by her superiors for the mission.

Ayudan, a native of Cagayan Valley, graduated from the PAF Flying School in 1996 and is affectionately called Weng by her fellow officers.

Despite the dangers of the mission, Ayudan said the evacuation of OFWs from Baghdad is nothing extraordinary. "It’s part of the job. We are ready and we can move any time. Our plane can be in the Middle East as planned," Ayudan said.

"Our team is complete, ready and we are just awaiting orders to move," she said. The C-130 that will fly into Baghdad if hostilities commence is piloted by Captains Antonio Llemos and Donato Aquino.

The plane was inspected yesterday by Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, who shook hands with Ayudan.

Ayudan also spoke excitedly about her carrier in the PAF. "In the Air Force, there’s no discrimination. We are all equal here," she said.

Ayudan has logged in considerable flying time in the cockpits of Nomad and Cessna planes used in disaster and rescue operations and is an expert in flying fixed-wing aircraft. "Nomad planes are smaller (than) the C-130," she said, "but, just the same, I can fly the C-130."

The Middle East air rescue team was originally meant to be an eight-man operation; however, the number of rescuers has been doubled, PAF chief Lt. Gen. Nestor Santillan said.

PAF spokesman Maj. Restituto Padilla said Ayudan "was chosen because she’s the most senior among the Air Force’s co-pilots. Foreign missions are usually assigned to the most senior and capable officers."

Padilla added that, "if there’s a go-signal, our C-130 will be flown by the team to the Baghdad airport."

This mission will only be put into motion, Padilla said, if government efforts to evacuate Filipinos using commercial flights from Iraq fail.

Special envoy Roy Cimatu, who heads the Middle East Preparedness Team (MEPT), is now working out an evacuation plan using commercial airlines to evacuate Filipino workers in Iraq. – Jaime Laude