MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine National Police (PNP) has temporarily grounded its entire fleet of rotary-wing aircraft while a “full-blown” investigation is ongoing on the crash of a Bell 429 chopper carrying PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa in San Pedro, Laguna on Thursday morning.
“The PNP Command Group and Quad Staff have convened and immediately ordered the temporary grounding of the entire PNP fleet of rotary-wing aircraft as a standard procedure while an investigation is underway,” Maj. Gen. Benigno Durana Jr., chief of the Directorate for Police Community Relations, said in an interview with reporters.
The PNP maintains a fleet of Airbus H-125, Bell-429, and Robinson R-44 multi-role helicopters.
“A full-blown investigation is ongoing and we will come up with a statement after this full-blown investigation is conducted,” he added.
The Bell 429 helicopter was trying to take off from Barangay San Antonio, San Pedro, to carry Gamboa and the other police officials for a command visit at the Camp Vicente Lim in Calamba when it got snagged on a high-tension wire, causing the helicopter to crash.
READ: Chopper carrying PNP chief Gamboa crashes in Laguna
Lt. Col. Serafin Petalio, director of the Laguna provincial police, said the helicopter tried to take off from a dusty ground, hampering visibility.
In a phone interview, San Antonio village chief Eugenio Ynion said the chopper even caught fire.
He explained that the Laperal compound where the chopper took off from and where it also crashed landed, is a private lot. Ynion added that the lot is also fenced-off as the property is the subject of an ongoing land dispute.
“I have been warning the police not to land choppers in there because the area is surrounded by wires,” Ynion said.
Despite this, Durana assured that the pilot and co-pilot of the Bell 429, which he described as “one of the most reliable choppers,” are “well-trained.”
“They have been flying this helicopter for quite some time already… Alam natin ang aksidente hindi natin maiiwasan kung minsan (We know that accidents could not be avoided sometimes),” he said.