Lemon?
I wonder if the Lemon Law covers the eight PZL W-3A Sokol helicopters of the Philippine Air Force? A Sokol helicopter carrying no less than a Major General of the Philippine Army and ten other passengers developed some problem while taking off from Marawi City last Thursday, causing it to crash. One crew member was injured, while a boy was injured by helicopter debris as it hit the ground. No fatalities, thank goodness. An investigation is now underway to determine the cause of the crash, as all eight Sokols of the PAF were bought as brand new units, not reconditioned nor refurbished at the cost of P2.8 billion.
For sure a warranty covers the units, if it can be proven that the chopper crashed because of mechanical or electrical defects, and not pilot error. Some have said that winds were strong when the chopper took off, but it was only one of an aerial convoy of three helicopters that took off that day. The other two, another Sokol and a Bell 412 made it safely to their destination. So I think we can safely say that the winds did not cause the crash. Passengers from the ill-fated chopper, which was written off as a total loss because of extensive damage, stated that the chopper had a hard time gaining altitude, pointing to equipment failure. Early this year, another Sokol developed problems because of a dead battery.
The PZL W-3A Sokol is the newest addition to the Philippine Air Force. The PAF needed a new Combat Utility Helicopter to replace the Vietnam War era UH-1H Hueys that the AFP has been using, much to the amazement of American armed forces that come to the country during military exercises. An order was placed during the Arroyo administration, and no less than President Aquino criticized the choice of the PZL in his fourth State of the Nation Address, citing the idiocy of placing a machine gun on the small side doors, which made dismounting the aircraft difficult. In a combat situation, this would be unacceptable. Since the contract had to be honored, the PZL was relegated to Search and Rescue operations. Why the PZL was chosen can be attributed to the meager budget that the Department of National Defense at the time. There are much better and superior helicopters to fulfill the CUH role such as the Bell 412EP, the AugustaWestland AW139 and the Eurocopter EC155 Enlarged Dauphain but exceeded the budget of $8 to 8.5 million apiece. We essentially got what we paid for.
The remaining seven Sokols have been grounded pending the results of the investigation. With the crash of the Sokol at a very early time in its life, the PAF may be left with a lemon indeed. To use it in the harsh and cruel conditions of combat may be unwise. A check with PZL shows that only 149 have been built by the company as of 2011. Only four armed forces use the Sokol, the Polish, Czech, Myanmar, and the Philippines. Quite telling. I tend to believe that a good product would also be commercially successful. Let's hope the other military equipment this administration is acquiring fare much better than this one.
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