Two Philippine Air Force SF-260 trainer planes crashed at an air base south of Manila during a training flight on Friday, killing all four pilots aboard, officials said Saturday.
The aircraft went down at Fernando Air Base in Lipa city, in the coastal province of Batangas. No one on the ground was hurt, the officials said.
What We Know So Far
The air force described the crash as accidental and gave no details. Two Philippine officials with knowledge of the matter told The Associated Press the two planes collided in flight at low altitude. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it.
“Both aircraft went down within the base perimeter, with no other casualties reported,” air force spokesman Col. Alvin Capinguian said in a statement. A witness told the AP that one of the two seat planes came down near the barracks of military personnel on the base.
The air force has opened an investigation into the cause. It temporarily grounded the rest of its SF-260 fleet, which it acquired from Italy, as a precaution. It did not say how many of the planes remain.
What Authorities Are Saying
None of the sources named the pilots.
Differing Accounts
The sources differ on whether the aircraft collided. The AP, citing two officials, said the planes collided at low altitude. The Straits Times, citing Reuters, said local media reported a mid air collision. The air force statement quoted by Reuters and AFP, as carried by the South China Morning Post, said only that both planes went down within the base perimeter, and the AP said the air force gave no details of the cause.
Why This Matters
The SF-260 has been involved in earlier fatal accidents. In May, two pilots were killed when an SF-260 trainer crashed in a mountainous area of the northern Philippines. In 2023, another SF-260 TP Marchetti crashed during a training flight, also killing two pilots. Reuters said there have been a number of deadly crashes involving Philippine military aircraft in recent years.
The air force used SF-260s during months of air strikes on the southern city of Marawi in 2017, after militants loyal to the Islamic State group seized the area.
The AP described the accident as a setback to an underfunded military that has long struggled to modernize its air force, navy and army because of financial constraints. The armed forces have also dealt with decades of communist and Muslim insurgencies and increasingly hostile territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.
What Happens Next
The investigation will look into the cause of the crash. The air force has not said when the grounded SF-260s will fly again.
Sources: the Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse, as carried by the South China Morning Post and The Straits Times
