Why Is the Philippine Air Force SF-260 Fleet Grounded Again?
The second fatal SF-260 crash in five months has grounded the fleet for the fourth time — and the inquiry into the May crash has never published its findings.
Two Philippine Air Force SF-260 trainer aircraft collided during a flyby rehearsal over Fernando Air Base on Friday afternoon, and all four pilots aboard were killed. The time was 3:51 p.m. Both aircraft came down inside the base perimeter in Lipa City, Batangas, with no casualties on the ground.
It was the second fatal SF-260 crash in five months. And the fourth time the Air Force has grounded the fleet after a fatal crash involving the type. The new investigation opens with the previous one still unanswered in public, because the Air Force has not released any findings from the May crash inquiry.
The May crash killed 1st Lt. Ruth Angelique Pasos, an instructor pilot, and 2nd Lt. Cherky Embudo, an aviation student, when their SF-260 went down on Mt. Cabuyao in Tuba, Benguet. Their aircraft, tail number 10-39 flying as Cougar Delta 1, was one of 10 trainers that had left Fernando Air Base for Baguio on a long navigation flight. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. visited their wake at the Villamor Air Base mortuary four days later, on May 24.
After that crash, the Air Force grounded its 16 remaining SF-260s. Air Force spokesperson Col. Ma. Christina Basco told reporters at the time that the affected students were “toward the end of their training,” and that the long-range navigation flights they were flying were a culminating requirement of the course, which meant the grounding stopped the cohort short of graduation.
On January 31, 2015, an SF-260FH flying in a three-aircraft formation out of Fernando crashed into the sea off Nasugbu, Batangas, during exhibition flying for the 70th anniversary of the province’s liberation. It killed instructor pilot Capt. John Bayao and student pilot Lt. Al-Nazer Jana at 9:40 in the morning. Then-commander Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Delgado grounded the roughly 16 SF-260FHs that remained, and the bodies were recovered about 300 metres from shore.
A different wing’s SF-260 went down in a rice paddy in Pilar, Bataan, on January 25, 2023, killing Capts. Ian Gerru Paulo and John Paulo Aviso during recurrency training out of Sangley Point in Cavite. The Air Force grounded the SF-260TP fleet under standard operating procedure. The basic-trainer fleet at Fernando was rebuilt around a single purchase: 18 SF-260FH aircraft bought for 622.59 million pesos and delivered from late 2010 into 2011, some of them assembled in the Philippines at Clark, for a type the Air Force has flown since the early 1970s.
The base houses the Air Education and Training Command, and both May pilots were assigned there. Friday’s aircraft were rehearsing a flyby, according to the Air Force account carried by the Manila Bulletin. The Air Force has not said whether Friday’s aircraft were among the 16 grounded in May and later returned to service, and it has not identified the four pilots, withholding their names at their families’ request.
The Air Force’s statement on Saturday said it “mourns the loss of four pilots in an aviation accident involving two SF-260 aircraft during a training flight at Fernando Air Base,” and asked the public to respect the families’ privacy. The Air Force has not said how many SF-260s remain in service, or how long the grounding will last. Its statement said only that an investigation is underway and that it is coordinating with the families.
