Arrow shows the helicopter's tail wreckage at the crash site, in photo taken by PAF pilot.
(UPDATE, 2:37PM) Five days of habagat-hindered search for a missing helicopter turned up a grim find Saturday morning: a single-engine light helicopter used in the Quezon province tunnel collapse, with bodies of two fatalities still strapped to the crashed chopper.
Retrieval and recovery operations by the 505th search and rescue group at Villamor Airbase were scheduled Sunday morning for the chopper, which had itself been on a rescue mission when it crashed at the height of bad weather on August 22.
However, bad weather again foiled efforts to retrieve bodies of the helicopter pilot and his assistant, with rescue teams prevented by zero visibility, strong winds and heavy rains from reaching the crash site Sunday over the mountains of Gen. Nakar town in Quezon Province.
Rescuers from the PAF 505th SAR Group (search and rescue) will try to attempt to reach the area again early Sunday morning, if good weather prevails'
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) confirmed late Saturday that the helicopter AS350B2 type operated by Macroasia Air Taxi Services, with registry number RP-C2688, was located at 3:30 pm at the crash site by a search and rescue team.
The ill-fated chopper, on a mission to pick up and rescue stranded construction and engineering personnel working at the Sumag diversion tunnel in Quezon, crashed last August 22 but its location could not be found. Relentless heavy rains induced by the southwest monsoon had made the search difficult.
CAAP Operations and Rescue Coordinating Center (ORCC) identified the fatalities as Capt. Miguel C. Logronio and his Aircraft Mechanic Eng. Jay Gregorio.
Efforts to locate the missing chopper took several days, but on Saturday morning, a helicopter piloted by Capt. Jojo Consunji was able to penetrate the crash site and dropped two rescuers to the ground.
The chopper crash site was first sighted by the 505th search and rescue group of the Philippine Air Force last Tuesday (August 23) but bad weather made penetration impossible.
Civilian and military volunteers from 505 Rescue Bustos group, Pureforce Rescue group, Conrad Tomeldan, Jude Estrada, Capt. Boy Garucho, Alex Limjuoco, Cavdeal, MWSS, Transcare and the local Dumagats in the area also helped search for the missing chopper.
Last May 5, 2016, a single-engine light HelicopterAS350B with registration number RP-C6828 piloted by Filipino pilot Capt. Rudolph Rex Raagas together with five passengers crash-landed in Sarawak, Malaysia killing all occupants.
http://interaksyon.com/article/131875/chopper-on-rescue-mission-itself-becomes-disaster-victim-caap-confirms-2-deaths
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