MANILA, Philippines - A Vietnam-vintage helicopter carrying Defense Secretary and National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) chief Gilbert Teodoro Jr. was forced to make an emergency landing in Pampanga due to strong winds yesterday.
Teodoro, who is a commercial pilot, was conducting an aerial survey on the extent of the damage to infrastructure by storm “Ondoy” in Metro Manila and Central Luzon.
He described the emergency landing of the UH-IH helicopter flying him and Philippine National Police (PNP) Deputy Director General Leopoldo Bataoil as simply a precautionary landing.
But a disaster official, who was with Teodoro, described his experience as a close call.
He said that while it is normal for helicopters to encounter moderately strong winds, yesterday’s incident was an exception.
“It was a close call. Our helicopter was struggling and good that our pilot decided to execute an emergency landing,” he said.
UH-IH helicopters, also known as “Huey,” prominently saw action during the Vietnam war.
However, this vintage aircraft remains to be the backbone of government’s military air operations against Islamic militants in Mindanao and communist rebels as well as in all emergency situations such as disaster operations.
A good number of these helicopters acquired by the government either through military grants or at a very low price from the United States have figured in several air mishaps, including one in Cebu where the chopper plunged into a busy street while conducting touch and go flying exercises in a nearby airfield, killing several people in 2004.
In August this year, another UH-IH flipped and spun several times before hitting the ground in Piagapo town in Lanao, injuring 10 soldiers on board.
Bataoil confirmed that the UH-IH helicopter that he took with Teodoro indeed made an emergency landing in the vicinity of Angeles City Hall in Angeles, Pampanga at 2 p.m. yesterday.
Teodoro and his party were already flying back to Manila from a disaster inspection in Arayat, Pampanga, one of the towns hit hard by flooding caused by Ondoy, when their chopper struggled with strong winds.
An hour later, Teodoro and his party boarded the same chopper back to Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City. – Jaime Laude