2 US fighter planes head for home base

Two US Air Force F-16 fighter planes finally flew out of the country yesterday after being forced to stay at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) when one suffered engine trouble while cruising Philippines skies last Nov. 22.

USAF Capt. Justin Dupuis and Capt. Seward Matwick took off on their F-16 fighters from the NAIA runway at around 10:45 a.m., heading for their home base at the USAF Misawa Air base in Japan.

The stalled fighter passed a test flight the other day to gauge its airworthiness. Dupuis and Matwick had been staying near their aircraft since Nov. 22 .

A new engine was flown in by the USAF to replace the broken engine of the fully-armed, missile-loaded supersonic fighter.

A USAF C-130 carrying the replacement engine landed at the NAIA last Dec. 8. Since its emergency landing, the F-16, piloted by Dupuis, had remained at the hangar of the Ages aviation firm while being repaired.

The other F-16, which escorted the stalled plane, stayed at the hangar.

Mechanics had decided that a new engine was needed to bring back the F-16 to good running and fighting condition.

The F-16 from the USAF 14th Fighter Wing had surprised people at the NAIA Terminal I when it flew low and made an emergency landing after developing engine trouble while cruising the Philippine airspace.

The fighter plane had developed problems in its hydraulic system, affecting the performance of its landing gear. It grounded to a halt several hundred meters after touchdown in the middle of NAIA Runway 06.

Airport personnel assigned to cut the grass near the NAIA runway came to the rescue of the F-16, pushing it several hundred meters out of the runway to the hangar of Ages. — Rainier Allan Ronda