PHOTO BY EDWIN BACASMAS
MANILA, Philippines—It was a bumpy ride for Pope Francis and his entourage aboard a chartered plane of the Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Saturday amid the threat of Tropical Storm “Amang.”
But bringing Pope Francis from Manila to Tacloban despite the weather disturbance was both a challenge and a blessing for the flight and cabin crew of the Philippines’ flag carrier.
The social media heaped praise on the flight crew of Philippine Airlines (PR8010) after the safe and successful landing of its Airbus A320 carrying the Roman Pontiff at Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport in Tacloban, Leyte, where public storm warning Signal No. 2 has been hoisted.
“We experienced turbulence and gusts on the approach. But the wind was within the limits of the aircraft,” Capt. Roland Narciso, chief pilot of PAL’s A320 division, told the Inquirer in a phone interview.
The Pope’s flight departed Manila less than an hour ahead of schedule to avoid the expected weather disturbance.
The plane left Manila before an audience of well-wishers in a festive mood at Villamor Air Base a little past 7:30 a.m. It arrived in Daniel Z. Romualdez Airport at 8:30 a.m.
Narciso, leading a crew of eight, flew the Pontiff to Tacloban in the morning and back to Manila in the afternoon.
“It was challenging. When you’re there, all you need to do is concentrate on the job. As long as it is within the limits of the aircraft, we can continue [the landing],” he said.
He said there was no need to go around before landing at the Tacloban airport.
The pilot, a PAL veteran with 15 years of flying experience, said the typhoon was coming from the east so they went to the west side of the country to enter the Tacloban area.
With him on board was Capt. Skee Tamayo, who served as the commander of the flight, and the cabin crew led by purser Carol Uy and flight attendants Ana Alvarez, Michael Chincuangco, Elsa Yuson and Vina Reyes.
With Narciso on the controls was Capt. George Alvarez. All three pilots were touted as PAL’s best.
Narciso, 41, said flying the Pope could be one of the proudest moments of his career.
He was a graduating cadet of the Philippine Military Academy when Pope John Paul II, now a saint, visited the country for the second time in 1995.
Fascinated with the concept of flying, he studied at the Philippine Air Force Flying School—known as the “Air Force Academy of the Philippines”—from 1995 to 1997.
Little did he know that 20 years later, he would be serving the Argentinian Pope as one of its pilots.
“I see it as a blessing … We had the opportunity to meet and kiss his hand,” he said.
The Pope flew to Tacloban City aboard PAL’s Airbus A320, its newest and best among its fleet of aircraft, Narciso said.
The flight of Pope Francis has been threatened by Amang, the first cyclone to enter the Philippine area of responsibility this year.
“Kudos to the PAL pilot who landed the aircraft bringing Pope Francis to Tacloban. Can you imagine how stressful that must have been for him?” Ramon Isberto, public affairs head of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., posted on his Facebook page.
“Legally and technically, it was the pilot’s call whether to land despite the strong winds of Typhoon Amang,” he said.
Public storm warning Signal No. 2 was hoisted in Leyte, where the Pope visited Tacloban and Palo, two of the hardest-hit areas of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” in November 2013.
More than 6,000 people were killed and 4 million displaced when the typhoon devastated the province.
Narciso said Amang was 50 miles northeast of Tacloban, which was what prompted them to recommend the Pope’s early departure for Manila from 5 p.m. to 1 p.m., thus cutting short his trip.
“[The change of schedule] was a collective decision among us, the Vatican and Malacañang,” Narciso said.
The papal plane landed safely back at 2:30 p.m. in Manila.
Before stepping out of the plane, the Pope went to the cockpit to thank the pilots and the crew members.
“It was again an opportunity for us to meet and kiss the Pope,” Narciso said.