2,000 pilots boycott Air Force reunion

More than 2,000 active and retired military and private commercial pilots boycotted yesterday’s annual homecoming of the Philippine Air Force Flying School (PAFFS) in Lipa City, Batangas to dramatize their demand for the resumption of the Aviation Cadet Program.

Instead of joining their colleagues at Fernando Air Base where the reunion was held, the group, led by retired Capt. Amado Soliman Jr., held a press conference at the headquarters of the PAF Aviation Cadet Alumni Association Inc. (PAF-ACes) at Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.

Soliman’s group criticized the PAF leadership, led by Lt. Gen. Benjamin Defensor, for failing to resume the program which former PAF chief Arnulfo Acedera suspended in 1995 but which President Arroyo ordered reinstated in February last year.

The Aviation Cadet Program was aimed at honing the flying skills of military, commercial and general aviation pilots who graduated from the PAF Flying School.

In suspending the program, Acedera argued that the PAF Flying School had been producing too many pilots with no aircraft to fly.

Soliman’s group scored Defensor and his predecessors for favoring graduates of the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) over the graduates of the Aviation Cadet Program.

Soliman said Defensor has "stonewalled" the continuation of the program due to what he claims were lack of funds and aircraft for the training.

"Yet we see the influx of PMA graduates reporting to the PAF for military pilot training," Soliman’s group said in a statement.

The group claimed that PAF cadets who were commissioned as second lieutenants are ordered to undergo training just like what Army Scout Rangers do, while PMAyers who join the PAF take flying lessons at the PAF Flying School.

"We do not hate the PMAyers because many of them deserve our respect and admiration. But (because of) the action and behavior of the present (leadership), the PAF is far from deserving of our respect and following," the group added.

Meanwhile, the PAF-ACes described as highly dangerous the PAF’s retrofitting of SF-260 TP aircraft for counter-insurgency operations.

The aircraft, it said, were designed solely for training military pilots.

"These remaining aircraft are being prepared for counter-insurgency operations which is not their primary application," Soliman’s group said.