US F-16 makes emergency landing at NAIA

A missile-armed United States Air Force F-16 fighter jet heading to Misawa, Japan was forced to make an emergency landing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) runway after encountering problems with its hydraulics system. The pilot was unharmed.

NAIA operations head Octavio Lina said the jet — which was flying from Singapore to Japan in tandem with another F-16 — requested an emergency landing because of hydraulics problems. The other plane did not experience any difficulties but also landed at NAIA.

US Embassy Press Attaché Matthew Lussenhop said the fighters belonged to the 35th Fighter Squadron, 14th Fighter Wing.

The troubled F-16 bearing serial number WW824 and piloted by Capt. Justin Dupuis flew low over NAIA as it taxied for touchdown at the emergency runway at around 11:13 a.m., surprising passengers and people at NAIA Terminal I with the rushing roar of its engine.

It even caught the attention of airport reporters who were awaiting the expected arrival of former Manila congressman Mark Jimenez on a Korean Airlines flight from the United States. "They came from Singapore en route to their camp in Misawa, Japan," Lina told local radio station dzBB. "This was the nearest place they could land."

Philippine Air Force spokesman Lt. Col. Restituto Padilla said the plane did not sustain any visible damage, and the pilot was unharmed.

The fighter jet, hampered by a hydraulic problem that affected the performance of its landing gear, came to a halt several hundred meters after touching down in the middle of NAIA Runway 06. Unable to steer the plane, Dupuis popped his head out of the fighter’s cockpit canopy looking for his requested tow truck.

However, instead of a tow truck, some 30 MIAA personnel assigned to cut the grass at the runway area came to the pilot’s immediate rescue, pushing the F-16 manually about 2,000 feet into the Old Balagbag Terminal hangar of the aviation firm Ages within 30 minutes as Dupuis watched from his perch in the cockpit.

Because the plane could not be steered, the grass cutters had to manually turn the wheels of the aircraft and direct it toward the hangar.

As a result of the F-16’s emergency landing, two international flights — a Cathay Pacific trip to Hong Kong and a China Airlines flight to Taipei — were delayed from taking off for several minutes. An incoming cargo plane of Nippon Airways was also diverted to the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport at Clark Field in Pampanga.

It was learned that Dupuis had radioed the Manila Air Control Tower of his intention to land in Manila immediately after he detected problems in the jet’s hydraulic system when he was 250 miles west of Manila at an altitude of 25,000 feet. The F-16 was part of a five-plane formation of F16 jet fighters that flew out of the Payalebar US Air Force Base in Singapore and was bound for the US air base in Misawa, Japan, or 400 miles north of Tokyo in Japan’s Aomori prefecture.

Dupuis had requested towing assistance immediately upon landing, air controllers said.

One of the F-16s, piloted by Capt. Seward Matwick, came out of the formation to escort the crippled fighter while the other three jet fighters proceeded to Clark Field.

It was learned that upon landing, Dupuis and Matwick had expressed their intention to stay near their jet fighters overnight until the needed repairs were undertaken. The pilots requested Ages officials to set up an air-conditioned tent to serve as their accommodations.

In an interview with airport reporters, Matwick said the F-16 fighters were not a military mission when the malfunction occurred.

"No, we’re not on a mission, we simply landed in Manila because this was nearest to us when we found the trouble," he said. — With Pia Lee-Brago, AP