President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has ordered the immediate investigation into the recent crash of an FA-50PH jet fighter that killed two pilots of the Philippine Air Force (PAF), Malacañang said Thursday.
In a press briefing, Palace Press Officer and Presidential Communications Office Undersecretary Claire Castro said Malacañang is saddened by the incident.
“The President is urging an immediate investigation into what went wrong and what else can be a remedy for these kinds of incidents),” Castro said.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) announced Thursday it has recovered the “black box” or flight data recorder of the FA-50PH jet fighter with tail number 002, which crashed Tuesday in the mountains of Bukidnon.
Air Force spokesperson Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo confirmed this during an interview with reporters, stating that the device will be sent to experts for analysis. “What we are going to find there are the usual flight data, the altitude, the airspeed, all the other things,” she added.
Castillo said this device can also tell the flight path taken by the aircraft prior to its crash. The “black box”is expected to provide investigators with valuable information on the issues or challenges the pilots faced during the flight.
Following the discovery of the missing aircraft’s wreckage in the vicinity of the Mount Kalatungan complex in Bukidnon on March 5, the PAF promptly grounded all 11 remaining FA-50PH jet fighters in its fleet.
The aircraft, which had been reported missing on March 4, was scheduled to participate in a “tactical night” operation under the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) Eastern Mindanao Command. It had taken off from the Benito N. Ebuen Air Base in Mactan, Cebu along with other members of its flight.
The PAF has yet to disclose the exact cause of the mishap, marking the first incident involving the FA-50PHs since their acquisition between 2015 and 2017.
Speaker Martin Romualdez meanwhile joined the administration and the AFP in mourning the death of the two pilots.
“They are not just soldiers; they are sons, brothers, and fathers who left their loved ones to fulfill a great mission. In their last flight, they carried the dream of every Filipino for a safe, peaceful, and prosperous country,”he added. The House leader also vowed to continue to help strengthen the military.
Editor’s Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: “Air Force assures swift probe on fighter jet crash”