Philippine Air Force grounds its C-130 transport fleet following fatal crash

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has grounded its fleet of C-130 medium transport aircraft after a fatal crash on 4 July in the southern Philippine province of Sulu.

The decision to ground the fleet was announced the following day by Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson Major General Edgard Arevalo, who noted that this is a standard procedure following such incidents.

The crash took place when the C-130H Hercules, which was carrying 96 military personnel, overshot the runway while trying to land at Jolo Airport around 12.00 h local time. All passengers aboard the C-130H, which had three pilots and five crew, were Philippine Army personnel being deployed to the province.

According to the Department of National Defense (DND), at least 52 people died in the incident, including three civilians on the ground, while 51 were injured, including four civilians on the ground. The incident took place in an area where the Philippine military has been fighting militants from the Abu Sayyaf group and other factions, although Maj Gen Arevalo was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that there is so far no indication that the crash was the result of an attack.

The aircraft involved was a second-hand C-130H operated by the PAF's 220th Airlift Wing. Commissioned in February, the ex-US Air Force (USAF) transport was the first of two platforms of the type procured by the PAF, with the second aircraft expected to be delivered later this year.