The grounding order on the other choppers has apparently been lifted. Two Sokol were spotted in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija last week.
SUDDEN LOSS OF ENGINE POWER: The chopper crashed at an altitude of 30 meters. File photo from the Armed Forces of the
Philippine Air Force chief Lieutenant General Jeffrey Delgado said "human error" caused the crash of a Sokol chopper in August 2014 shortly after it took off from a military camp in
"We focused
on the human and environmental factors that contributed to the incident and
from the investigation we have conducted, it was found out that it was human
factor," Delgado told lawmakers on Tuesday, September 9, during the 8-hour
budget deliberations in the House of Representatives.
"There were
some complacencies as far as the operators are concerned," Delgado added.
The initial
investigation focused on the engine but the investigators didn't find problems,
he said.
The Philippine
military acquired 8 brand new Sokol choppers from Poland, delivered in batches
between 2012 and 2013, costing the government a total of P2.8 billion ($64.4
million)*.
The other 7
choppers were immediately grounded after the
crash last month.
The
order has apparently been lifted. Last week, 2 Sokol choppers were spotted in Fort Magsaysay
Among the
passengers of the chopper that crashed was Major General Ricardo Visaya,
commander at the time of the 4th Infantry Division. He was not hurt. Two other
passengers suffered minor injuries.
It crashed at an
altitude of 30 meters due to sudden loss of engine power. It had just taken off
from Camp Ranao
Visaya was
accompanying top Aquino government officials who visited the area. A separate
chopper carried Interior and Local Government Secretary Mar Roxas and Defense
Secretary Voltaire Gazmin.
Visaya has since
been promoted to become the chief of the Southern Luzon Command (Solcom)
responsible for security operations in the Bicol region, previously a communist
hotbed. (READ: AFP shake up complete)
http://www.rappler.com/nation/68647-sokol-crash-human-error?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rappler%2Fnews+(Rappler%3A+News)
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