PAF fighter jet with 2 pilots goes missing
- An “extensive and thorough” search is still ongoing for an FA-50 fighter jet, with two pilots onboard, that went missing past 12 a.m. Tuesday “minutes before reaching the target area” during a night operation.
- But Castillo said the PAF could not disclose details about the search area since it may be a “hot area” or hostile territory.
- The FA-50 is a light combat aircraft manufactured by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), South Korea’s sole aircraft maker, for the Republic of Korea Air Force. It is a light combat version of the T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic advanced jet trainer and light attack aircraft.
The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has launched an “extensive and thorough” search for an FA-50 fighter jet and the two pilots onboard after it went missing past 12 a.m. Tuesday during a tactical night operation.
“The aircraft lost communication with the rest of the flight (crew) involved in the mission minutes before reaching the target area,” Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo said in a briefing at Camp Aguinaldo, Quezon City.
According to Castillo, another aircraft that was part of the operation repeatedly tried to make contact with the missing fighter jet until the former returned to their base on Mactan Island, Cebu. She declined to disclose how many aircraft took part in the operation.
“The PAF is conducting extensive and thorough search operations, utilizing all available resources, to locate the missing jet fighter aircraft,” she said.
“Our primary concern is the safe return of our aircrew. We are hopeful of locating them and the aircraft soon, and ask you to join us in prayer during this critical time,” she added.
Castillo also withheld the name of the missing pilots, but confirmed in a Teleradyo Serbisyo interview that both were male and that their families had been informed.
She described the pilots as well-trained and highly skilled to operate an “advanced aircraft.”
Their personal locator beacons were still emitting signals as of Tuesday afternoon.
She also noted that their aircraft was equipped with ejection seats.
Possible ‘hot area’
But Castillo said the PAF could not disclose details about the search area since it may be a “hot area” or hostile territory.
“Right now, we cannot disclose the location of [the] search. There is a possibility that it is a hot area… and we want to ensure that the rescuers will be the first [team] to reach the location of our pilots,” she told the Inquirer in a Viber message.
Castillo, in the television interview, said the search area was “bulubundukin” (mountainous) and that a search party composed of soldiers was on its way.
The PAF’s tactical night operations were part of “our regular support to the ongoing operations of our Unified Commands.”
Made in South Korea
“This is the first major incident involving our fighter aircraft,” she said.
The FA-50 is a light combat aircraft manufactured by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI), South Korea’s sole aircraft maker, for the Republic of Korea Air Force. It is a light combat version of the T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic advanced jet trainer and light attack aircraft.
The missing FA-50 fighter jet is one of the 12 units acquired by the government from KAI for P18.9 billion during the term of President Benigno Aquino III. The planes were delivered in batches between 2015 and 2017.
In August 2024, a Philippine FA-50 practiced its flare capabilities a day after the People’s Liberation Army-Air Force of China also deployed flares aimed at a PAF plane.
The light combat aircraft were also described as “game changers” during the 2017 siege of Marawi City, a five-month battle between government troops and Islamic State (IS)-linked militants.
In January 2017, IS-affiliated terror groups converging in Butig, Lanao del Sur province, became the first enemy force to be targeted by the PAF’s newly acquired FA-50s.
In January this year, the government announced plans to acquire 12 more light fighters from South Korea for P40 billion. —WITH REPORTS FROM JOSELLE R. BADILLA AND INQUIRER RESEARCH
