EDITORIAL — No probe should wrap up in a day

Investigators looking into the crash of an Air Force helicopter in Lapulapu City in which nine people were killed and several others were injured have reportedly determined initially that the probable cause of the accident may have been a kite string made of nylon.

Apparently, the Vietnam War vintage Huey helicopter ran into the nylon cord of the kite as it was returning home to Mactan air base from a training flight over the South Road Project in Cebu City.

While it is plausible for the blame to be placed on the kite after a stretch of its nylon cord was found wound around the rotor shaft of the ill-fated aircraft, we believe no conclusions should be made as yet.

Just because a piece of nylon cord had been found wound around the rotor shaft of the helicopter does not automatically mean the cord caused the crash. One cannot come to a conclusion within 24 hours of an accident without running the risk of being too haphazard.

There is a weekly series on the highly respected National Geographic Channel called Air Crash Investigation in which professional and expert investigators never jump to conclusions even in the presence of an obvious cause for an accident.

What these professional and expert investigators do is painstakingly sift through every piece of evidence, interview experts and witnesses, check past and current data on anything remotely related to the crash before making conclusions, often after months or even years.

They do this, even if at first glance the cause of a crash is pretty evident, in order to eliminate any and all other possibilities. They test other theories, they consider other angles. In other words, they do anything except come to a conclusion within 24 hours of a crash.

But then this is the Philippines, where air crash investigations are probably never done with an eye to making it to National Geographic. Nevertheless, prudence dictates that we proceed slowly and diligently. No need to rush. What we find out today may save lives tomorrow.