All air, no force
“BEFORE GMA STEPS DOWN IN JUNE
PAF to get four ‘Tom Cruise’ planes”
THE headline of a front page story in our Monday issue instantly conjured the F-14 Tomcats of Cruise’s Top Gun screeching, soaring, somersaulting across the Philippine skies.
While aged by state-of-the-art standards set by its intended replacement, the F/A18EF Super Hornet, the advanced F-22 Raptor, or even by the now-retired Gulf War mainstay, the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, the F-14 Tomcat can stand its ground, er, rule its airspace, against any comers in this part of the globe.
Thus the sense of patriotic pride, if not jingoistic ebullience, drawn from our very core by that headline. Only to go pffft with a reading of the story: The Philippine Air Force (PAF) will have four aircraft similar to that owned by Hollywood star Tom Cruise before Pres. Arroyo’s term ends this June.
Aerotech Industries Philippines, Inc. (Aerotech) firm authorized by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Alenia Aermaccchi (Alenia) is rushing the completion of four out of 18 SF-260 training aircraft at its assembly plant here…
…“It’s the kind of aircraft owned by Tom Cruise, said Aerotech chief operating officer Teresa Parian.
Tom Cruise, yeah right. What’s good for him is good for the Philippine Air Force. If this SF-260 training aircraft is the best we can afford, Allah help us.
A quick click in the internet showed that on December 12, 2002 an SF-260 crashed in a factory in Sto. Tomas, Batangas killing its two pilots and a factory worker while injuring several others.
Incidentally, the same Alenia Aermacchi is the maker of the S-211trainer jet that has been dubbed – along with just about every PAF aircraft – as “widowmaker.”
Again, the web yielded at least two fatal incidents involving S-211s: On January 14, 2002 in Cabanatuan City where two pilots and four civilians were killed in a crash and 20 houses razed, and in November 2007 over Kalayaan Islands when an S-211 went missing along with its two pilots.
The rash of aircraft crashes early this year – an OV-10 Bronco in Tarlac in February killing its two pilots, and a Nomad in Cotabato City in January resulting to the death of eight soldiers, including a general, and a civilian on the ground – has added yet another sobriquet to PAF planes – “flying coffins.”
The Nomads would appear as the flying coffins destined for PAF’s two-star generals: Maj. Gen. Mario Butch Lacson, commander of the Air Force's 3rd Air Division, in the Cotabato crash; and Maj. Gen. Santiago Madrid Jr. in the July 2, 2000 crash off Cagayancillo Island in Palawan.
Yet another Nomad crash – into the sea off Zamboanga – left all 13 people on board surviving though.
All these crashes notwithstanding, the PAF has constantly appealed to media to refrain from branding with morbid labels its aged aircraft.
“Ako ay nagre-request sa ating kasamahan na siguro, kung pwede, ma-delete ang branding na widowmaker at saka flying coffin sapagkat ito ay nakakaapekto sa morale ng ating air crew (I am requesting our friends in the media that, if possible, delete the branding of our planes as widowmakers and flying coffins because it affects the morale of our air crew).” So appealed PAF spokesman Lt. Col. Gerardo Zamudio after the OV-10 crash in Tarlac.
All these crashes notwithstanding, the PAF has been insistent that all its aircraft are well-maintained.
“Kung ano ang bigay sa atin ng gobyerno, papangalagaan natin ito para ma-perform ang ating mission. (Whatever the government provides us, we do our best to maintain them just so we can perform our mission.)” So Zamudio averred.
Yeah, and dying in crashes has apparently become the principal mission for the PAF flyers.
So PAF will get all 18 new, er, refurbished, SF-206 trainer planes possibly by the end of the year. Big deal. Both Malaysia and Taiwan have F-16 Fighting Falcons in their arsenals, Indonesia produces its own fighter planes.
So what was it that Senator Dick Gordon said about the PAF? All air, no force.
Yeah, right.
PAF to get four ‘Tom Cruise’ planes”
THE headline of a front page story in our Monday issue instantly conjured the F-14 Tomcats of Cruise’s Top Gun screeching, soaring, somersaulting across the Philippine skies.
While aged by state-of-the-art standards set by its intended replacement, the F/A18EF Super Hornet, the advanced F-22 Raptor, or even by the now-retired Gulf War mainstay, the F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter, the F-14 Tomcat can stand its ground, er, rule its airspace, against any comers in this part of the globe.
Thus the sense of patriotic pride, if not jingoistic ebullience, drawn from our very core by that headline. Only to go pffft with a reading of the story: The Philippine Air Force (PAF) will have four aircraft similar to that owned by Hollywood star Tom Cruise before Pres. Arroyo’s term ends this June.
Aerotech Industries Philippines, Inc. (Aerotech) firm authorized by the Italian aircraft manufacturer Alenia Aermaccchi (Alenia) is rushing the completion of four out of 18 SF-260 training aircraft at its assembly plant here…
…“It’s the kind of aircraft owned by Tom Cruise, said Aerotech chief operating officer Teresa Parian.
Tom Cruise, yeah right. What’s good for him is good for the Philippine Air Force. If this SF-260 training aircraft is the best we can afford, Allah help us.
A quick click in the internet showed that on December 12, 2002 an SF-260 crashed in a factory in Sto. Tomas, Batangas killing its two pilots and a factory worker while injuring several others.
Incidentally, the same Alenia Aermacchi is the maker of the S-211trainer jet that has been dubbed – along with just about every PAF aircraft – as “widowmaker.”
Again, the web yielded at least two fatal incidents involving S-211s: On January 14, 2002 in Cabanatuan City where two pilots and four civilians were killed in a crash and 20 houses razed, and in November 2007 over Kalayaan Islands when an S-211 went missing along with its two pilots.
The rash of aircraft crashes early this year – an OV-10 Bronco in Tarlac in February killing its two pilots, and a Nomad in Cotabato City in January resulting to the death of eight soldiers, including a general, and a civilian on the ground – has added yet another sobriquet to PAF planes – “flying coffins.”
The Nomads would appear as the flying coffins destined for PAF’s two-star generals: Maj. Gen. Mario Butch Lacson, commander of the Air Force's 3rd Air Division, in the Cotabato crash; and Maj. Gen. Santiago Madrid Jr. in the July 2, 2000 crash off Cagayancillo Island in Palawan.
Yet another Nomad crash – into the sea off Zamboanga – left all 13 people on board surviving though.
All these crashes notwithstanding, the PAF has constantly appealed to media to refrain from branding with morbid labels its aged aircraft.
“Ako ay nagre-request sa ating kasamahan na siguro, kung pwede, ma-delete ang branding na widowmaker at saka flying coffin sapagkat ito ay nakakaapekto sa morale ng ating air crew (I am requesting our friends in the media that, if possible, delete the branding of our planes as widowmakers and flying coffins because it affects the morale of our air crew).” So appealed PAF spokesman Lt. Col. Gerardo Zamudio after the OV-10 crash in Tarlac.
All these crashes notwithstanding, the PAF has been insistent that all its aircraft are well-maintained.
“Kung ano ang bigay sa atin ng gobyerno, papangalagaan natin ito para ma-perform ang ating mission. (Whatever the government provides us, we do our best to maintain them just so we can perform our mission.)” So Zamudio averred.
Yeah, and dying in crashes has apparently become the principal mission for the PAF flyers.
So PAF will get all 18 new, er, refurbished, SF-206 trainer planes possibly by the end of the year. Big deal. Both Malaysia and Taiwan have F-16 Fighting Falcons in their arsenals, Indonesia produces its own fighter planes.
So what was it that Senator Dick Gordon said about the PAF? All air, no force.
Yeah, right.
posted by A.Caesar Z. Lacson at 3:23 PM
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