The UH-1D Helicopter that crashed in Isabela rumored to have Issues back in 2015

It turns out that the UH-1D Huey Helicopter that crashed in the Cagayan Valley yesterday (Thursday, July 23, 2020) was part of the batch that was rumored to be defective but still accepted back in 2015.

The Manila Times reported in April 2015 that based on the Documents they obtained, the UH-1D Helicopters refurbished by the Rice Aircraft Services Inc. (RASI) and its partner, Eagle Copters Ltd. had issues but were still somehow accepted back then.

The Article said that one of the issues was that the the Helicopters were not compatible with Night Vision Goggles (NVG), and yet the UH-1D was conducting NVG Proficiency Training during its flight yesterday before it crashed.

Another issue with the Helicopters was that their Fuel Cells were not confirmed to be Self-Sealing and Crash-Worthy since they were not able to physically able to open one up during the inspections.

This is at least the third time that the UH-1D crashed, the second one happened back in May 2017 in the Rizal Province killing 3 people. All the UH-1D Helicopters were grounded after the crash back then, but were returned back to service after less than a month.

The first crash of these RASI Helicopters happened after about a year after they were accepted into service. It happened in November 2015 in Sarangani, injuring 9 people.

So that’s at least 3 crashes in 5 years of service, or averaging 1.67 per 2 year.

SOURCES:
* ‘Defective’ Choppers
* LOOK: Grounded UH-1D Choppers cleared to fly again
* PAF insists on reliability of Choppers despite Sarangani crash

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