Pilot error caused Sikorsky crash, Air Force says

The crash of an Air Force rescue helicopter in Puerto Princesa City last May 18 was likely due to pilot error, the Air Force announced yesterday.

The Air Force Sikorsky-47 helicopter crashed at the outskirts of Puerta Princesa City on May 18 at around 7:50 p.m. as it was airlifting the bodies of the victims of an earlier helicopter crash.

Air Force spokesman Col. Lino Lapinid said the Sikorsky’s pilot Capt. Jesus Tablada must have erred when he lifted off the crash site at Sitio Mabugay, Barangay Manalo in Puerto Princesa City.

Since it was already dark, Tablada must have forgotten that when he landed he was facing a hill and he forgot to turn the aircraft at take off, thus hitting one of the trees on the hill, Lapinid said.

Lapinid said Air Force probers dismissed earlier suggestions that the chopper crashed due to overloading after it took on board the bodies of six victims who died in the Bell-407 that crashed that afternoon.

The Sikorsky was sent to retrieve the bodies of the victims and was already taking off for its return trip to the 57th Tactical Wing at Bautista Air Base in Palawan.

"The said helicopter (Sikorsky) was capable of the additional load and would not have posed any problem on its additional weight," Lapinid said.

A Sikorsky crash instantly killed Tablada, his co-pilot Lt. Rizza Simon, paramedics Airman First Class Mario Datu, Capts. Vicente Castillo and Warren Lim. Dr. Christopher Blanco and one Sgt. Nemesio died on their way to the hospital.

Meanwhile, Lapinid denied that the Air Force grounded its Sikorsky helicopters, explaining that the Air Force only had six Sikorsky choppers but only two of them were flying before the crash.

"So the reports that the PAF had grounded its Sikorsky helicopters were incorrect because, in the first place, there was nothing to ground," he said.

The report of the grounding of the Sikorsky choppers came after the Air Transportation Office (ATO) grounded all Bell-407 helicopters following the May 18 crash of a Bell-407 helicopter that killed six people, including the mother of Palawan Gov. Joel Reyes.

ATO chief and assistant secretary Gen. Adelberto Yap said the order was based on repeated complaints of pilots over alleged mechanical defects of the helicopter.

Yap said that on Friday morning he had written a letter to helicopter maker Bell Corp. relaying the numerous complaints of pilots who pinpointed supposed defects in the aircraft’s rotor.

Yap lamented that on the afternoon of the day he wrote the letter, a Bell-407 helicopter, owned by the Jaka Group of Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, crashed in Palawan and killed all its six passengers.