The rhk111 Military and Arms Page: Philippine Navy AW109 Helicopter Inventory now down to only three after second crash in three Years

Another AW109E Helicopter of the Philippine Navy (PN) crashed, this one at Sangley Point in Cavite City. A total of five People consisting of the Pilot, Co-Pilot and three Maintenance Crews were hurt in the Incident, but luckily there were no Fatalities.

The Helicopter was doing a Test Flight after undergoing its scheduled Maintenance Inspection when the Incident happened. Four of the Passengers suffered minor Cuts and Bruises while another one sustained a minor Fracture.

Another PN AW109E Helicopter crashed back in 2021 at the Cagayan North International Airport (CNIA), and luckily there were no Fatalities in that Incident also, although its four Passengers were hurt.

The PN bought a total of five of these Helicopters brand new, and started commissioning them into Service in 2015, so these Helicopters are less than a Decade old. With these two crashes, this brings the total number of such Helicopters to currently only three for the PN, assuming that the previous one that crashed in Cagayan was not brought back to service, and this new crash will take some time to be recovered, if at all.

While two of its five PN AW109E Helicopters have already crashed, none of the eight AW109AP Helicopters of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) has crashed yet as of now, knock on Wood, and they were commissioned into Service also around the same Year in 2015.

I think that the PN should review its entire Pilot Training and Maintenance Procedures with the PAF to see why they are suffering such a high rate of crashes for these brand new Helicopters that are less then ten Years old.

There is likely something very wrong with how they are doing Things compared to how the PAF is doing it with similar Helicopters.

On the Positive Side, notice how there were no Fatalities in the two crashes so far despite the Fact that in both Incidences, the Helicopters were carrying at least four Passengers. This indicates these Aircraft have been able to keep its Passengers relatively unharmed for now despite the crashes.

SOURCES:

* Navy Chopper crashes, 5 injured {Archived Link}

* Philippine Navy AW109E Helicopter Crash, September 26, 2021 – Aviation Safety Network (ASN) Database {Archived Link}

* Military Equipment Acquisitions Under the PNoy Administration {Archived Link}

Check out the Links to my other Social Media Accounts at https://linktr.ee/rhk111

Don’t forget to click on the Ads or to donate to help support this Website.