Pilot-heroine makes final act of bravery

MABALACAT, Pampanga — The bemedalled female Air Force pilot who went down with her OV-10 Bronco bomber last Monday might yet be given another award for her final act of bravery.

"There are indications that Lt. Grace Baluyo delayed her bailout to guide the ill-fated aircraft to a vacant lot and avoid houses in a residential area," said Lt. Col. Charles Hotchkiss, deputy commander of the 1st Tactical Air Force Wing based at Clark Field.

The twin engine OV-10 crashed in Philhomes Subdivision, Barangay Mabiga here at 3:45 p.m. Monday after developing engine trouble. Baluyo died in the crash. Her co-pilot, Capt. Ben Nasayao, was able to bail out a few seconds before the plane slammed into an empty lot in the subdivision.

Hotchkiss said that Nasayao had urged Baluyo to immediately bail out when an engine failed.

"It was improbable that the aircraft hit the small vacant lot by chance," Hotchkiss said.

Witnesses said the aircraft, initially flying at an altitude of 1,000 feet, grazed the top of an acacia tree and part of a warehouse before finally hitting the ground.

Air Force chief Lt. Gen. Benjamin Defensor ordered yesterday the grounding of all OV-10s pending the probe on the plane crash.

Defensor earlier directed the PAF Safety Office to determine the cause of the crash as well as submit a detailed report on the pre-flight activities of the ill-fated OV-10 as well as the two pilots who flew the attack aircraft.

Hotchkiss said an investigation would look into the possibility that Baluyo deliberately stayed behind and sacrificed her life to prevent a bigger disaster on the ground.

Nasayao was released from the PAF Hospital in Clark yesterday morning after being treated for minor injuries. He was hurt in the right foot after landing on a concrete fence some 100 meters from the crash site.

Jack Tongol, a resident of Philam Subdivision, rushed the injured pilot to the hospital as the aircraft burned on the 250-square-meter vacant lot. Some 10 minutes after the plane went down, Hotchkiss arrived at the site.

Along with Mabalacat Vice Mayor Prospero Lagman, a physician, Hotchkiss pulled out Baluyo from the cockpit of the OV-10, which was torn to pieces.

"I couldn’t look at her face as we pulled her out," he said. Baluyo was still strapped to the pilot seat of the aircraft, her face burned beyond recognition.

Her remains were later flown to Sangley Point in Cavite, where she and the other pilots of the 15th Strike Wing were based. Her plane was one of three OV-10s that took of from the Sangley base some 14 minutes before the crash.

The three bombers were supposed to conduct training missions over Crow Valley, a military reservation where the US Air Force in Clark formerly held war exercises.

About a minute before the OV-10 crashed, personnel at the Clark Airport tower received a distress call from Baluyo, who indicated the plane was developing engine failure.

Hotchkiss said the PAF has about 10 OV-10s, which are "all reliable."

The US-made propeller bombers were first introduced in the 1960s. They are still widely used in other Asian countries, including Indonesia and Thailand.

OV-10s played a significant role in the successful capture of separatist stronghold Camp Abubakar in Maguindanao during government offensives last year.

The successful takeover of Abubakar led to the recognition of several PAF pilots, including Baluyo, who reportedly received three medals for her role in the OV-10 air assault.

A native of Bacolod, Baluyo graduated from the PAF Flying School in 1997. Friends said she was set to marry a fellow pilot next year.