Images of Captain "Mike" Logronio and a replica of the Huey helicopter that he was proficient at flying, contributed by Col Egay Mendoza.
The pain etches deep into the hearts of the families of the two-man helicopter flight crew.
The remains of Capt. Miguel C. Logronio and his Aircraft Mechanic Eng. Jay Gregorio, found at the wreckage in Heneral Nakar two days ago, remained marooned at the crash site for the past two days due to inclement weather, awaiting airlift after retrieval operations get underway.
The two, who were on a mercy mission to evacuate trapped workers at a construction site of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System days before, met their untimely death flying to the Sumag diversion tunnel project in General Nakar Quezon province.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) identified the ill-fated aircraft as an AS350B2 type helicopter operated by Macroasia Air Taxi Services, with registry number RP-C2688.
Efforts to locate the missing chopper took several days because of the bad weather in the area, and it was only on Saturday that an Air Force search helicopter piloted by Capt. Jojo Consuji was able to ascertain the crash site location and drop two rescuers onsite.
They were hailed as heroes by the stranded rescue personnel who witnessed the efforts of the two; they said that Captain Logronio and Engr. Gregorio worked vigorously against time airlifting marooned workers out of a flash flood situation last August 15, 2016.
Fondly called Mike by his friends and batch mates at the Philippine Air Force, Logronio was a retired Air Force Colonel.
Among his illustrious batch mates from PAF flying school Hinirang Class 1978 are (Ret.) Maj. Gen. Artemio Orozco and Col. Egay C. Mendoza, who provided photos and anecdotes of Mike during his stints at the PAF.
Orozco, then a young Lieutenant, was part of the air force pilots who saw action in the 1986 People Power Revolution, while Mendoza, who still flies and manages a flying school based in Poro Point, San Fernando La Union, recalled that Capt. Mike was proficient in flying the Bell 214, 205 and UH-1H helicopters, and was assigned at the 505th strike wing, where he also piloted the P28 so-called "Tora Tora" aircraft for three years before his retirement.
They remembered an incident in the late 1980s when Col. Mike almost met his creator after his Bell 214 rotor got detached while flying, but he managed to maneuver toward a safe emergency landing.
Mendoza said that Mike was what they fondly called a "batang Nichols", a term used by PAF personnel for kids who grew up and studied flying inside the former Nichols air base, now Villamor Air Base.
The late Captain Mike Logronio is married to his wife Mel and blessed with three children: His eldest, Miguel Logronio Jr., a 2nd Lt. at the Philippine Army and member of PMA Class 2009, was a casualty in an ambush by NPAs in Bicol sometime May 2010. Another son Ony, the youngest, became a pilot with a Masters degree and is now with Asian Aerospace. The second child, a daughter, is a registered nurse named Kat.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/131897/mercy-mission-gone-wrong--air-force-buddies-remember-sumags-unsung-hero-capt--mike-logronio
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