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| The C-130 Aircraft that crashed in Sulu recently |
Here are some more details of the crash of the C-130 Hercules Aircraft of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) in Sulu on July 4, 2021 collected on 2 Articles by the Philippine News Agency (PNA), based on their Interviews with the Armed Forces of the Philippines Spokesman Major General Eduardo Arevalo and AFP Chief General Cirilito Sobejana.
* The Aircraft followed the specified Protocols regarding the Approach Speed and Landing Spot.
* The newly refurbished C-130 Aircraft still had 11,000 Flying Hours of Airframe Life left when it crashed.
* The Pilots were all rated, seasoned and experienced in flying the C-130 Aircraft.
* The Flight Data Recorder or Black Box of the crashed Aircraft has been found and will be used in the investigations.
* According to Witnesses:
- The Aircraft bounced 3 times off the Runway
- After the 3rd bounce, the Aircraft zigzagged on the Runway, and tried to go up and regain Altitude
- One of its Wings was hit by a Tree as it was going up, forcing the Aircraft into a Right Banking Turn before it crashed into the Ground
- A Witness said that only one Landing Gear was deployed, but this may be just due to the Person’s Line of Sight
‘My Notes’
It seems that the Jolo Runway is just too short and too unforgiving for such a large Aircraft. Any mistake and that’s likely it.
It is reportedly only 1,200 m long. In contrast, the longest Runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) is almost 3 times as long at 3,410 m.
I think if the C-130 performed the same maneuver at a much longer Runway similar to that of NAIA, for example, then it could’ve safely gained Altitude without hitting any Trees.
The big question though is what caused the C-130 to bounce off the Runway thrice in the first place? That is one of the main questions the investigation has to find an answer to.
The above reports are still unofficial though, we don’t know if that is really what happened, hopefully we will know the truth soon enough.
SOURCES:
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These planes are designed to land on short unimproved airstrips of 800 meters. This airstrip was concrete and had been lengthened to 1800 meters. The PAF cannot afford tragedies of this magnitude both in trained personnel and expensive (25 million USD) in equipment.
ReplyDeleteIf it is not the Runway, Aircraft or Pilots, then what could it be, then? Could the Aircraft been overloaded? Making weight assumptions for 96 People and 5 Vehicles puts the total weight near or around the maximum Payload of 20,000 kg for the C-130.
DeleteI have flown on PAF C-130's many times Manila/Cebu/Manila. There are crates with pigs and chickens, kids running loose, cargo not properly secured. They are lax with their cargo, passengers, and fuel control. I was temporarily assigned to Mactan PAFB. CWO, USCG, Ret
ReplyDeleteUS Coast Guard C-130's routinely fly in and out of short runways at LORAN stations such as Iwo Jima, Marcus, Yap, Palau, Ulithi, Wake, Johnston, Kure, French Frigate Shoals, Adak, Attu, Christmas, Fanning, Con Son, Hue Phi Bai. Midway was a bitch because of all the Gooney birds that we could suck into an engine. Things could get dangerous, we once had a mid air collision with a Navy P-3 off of Midway. We got a big gash in our belly, the P-3 lost 16 ft of its wing. Both acft landed safely.
ReplyDeleteWill you agree with me though, that generally landing in a short 800 m Runway is not as easy as landing on a 2,200 m Runway? That's because the Risk Factor is higher on a shorter Runway, there is much less or even no Margin of Error.
DeleteYou make a mistake on an 800 m Runway and that is likely it. If you make the same mistake on a 2,200 m Runway, then there is still some room to recover which may alleviate a disaster.