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PAF pilot issues; Service, updates, discussions
Topic Started: Sep 15 2005, 11:33 AM (2,873 Views)
jvelarde
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israeli
Sep 27 2007, 12:56 AM
the PAF Flying School is just your "cheaper" version of the commercial aviation school that produces pilots for commercial airlines. besides, these new pilots know for a fact that pursuing a career in a budget-less, aircraft-less PAF is just the same as shooting themselves in the head. :armyeek:

Won't it make more sense not to train more pilots until we get more aircraft?
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akimima
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well the problem here is that if you don't train, there will be no pilots to fly the planes whether the antiquated planes of the PAF or commercial airlines. Training these pilots is just like a double edged sword, you get hurt on either sides.

:armysad:
"Our arrows will blot out the sun!" quoted by the invading Persian commander. "Then we will fight in the shade!" quote from 300 Spartans.
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jvelarde
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akimima
Sep 29 2007, 11:38 AM
well the problem here is that if you don't train, there will be no pilots to fly the planes whether the antiquated planes of the PAF or commercial airlines. Training these pilots is just like a double edged sword, you get hurt on either sides.

:armysad:

Gotcha. So the PAF Flying School is also acting as a "free" flying school for commercial airlines, both domestic and international.

I don't begrudge the graduates of the PAFFS of going civilian after their contracts are over with the PAF. After all, they have families to feed and the PAF can only afford military salaries and mostly antique aircraft.

I just hope that these PAFFS graduates fulfill the minimum number of years of service before going to greener pastures.
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Tora^2
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And you thought the PAF's worse problem is a shortage of decent aircraft


Quote:
 

Dedicated PAF pilots shun high pay of airlines

Silver lining in dark clouds

By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:44:00 06/02/2008


(First of two parts)

MANILA, Philippines—As dark clouds hang over the Philippine Air Force and pilots look for silver linings elsewhere, two veteran flyers carry out rescue missions with the enthusiasm of young aviators on their inaugural flight.

Saving lives is the wind beneath the wings of Captains George Padua and Dante Mirambil Jr., both helicopter pilots of the PAF 505th Search and Rescue Group (SRG).

The reward is immeasurable for the two 14-year PAF veterans, especially when they fly mercy missions to pluck soldiers out of harm's way in combat zones.

But even as they stay true to a pledge of realizing the word "serviceman" every working day, the thought of a future in the cockpit of a larger plane does not escape them.

Many colleagues have traded their military jumpsuits for smart blue coats.

From 2006 to September 2007, the PAF lost 111 pilots to civilian aviation, where their skills could earn close to four times their current wages.

The Air Force Safety Office (AFSO) says 68 pilots left the service in 2006 and 43 last year, among them highly trained captains and majors lined up to be instructors for the next generation of military aviators.

Departures in 2006 included several pilots who had not completed the required eight years of service, earning them court-martial charges for going AWOL (absent without leave).

Thirty-two more pilots -- 28 in 2007 and four so far this year -- are awaiting approval to leave the service, says the AFSO.

Between service and commerce

Choosing between public service in a poorly equipped military and better pay and premium benefits in an airline with a fresh and high-tech fleet is something that weighs heavily on the minds of pilots like Padua and Mirambil.

"I am entertaining thoughts of moving on after a few more years in the service to try something else," says Padua, 36, a father of two. "I'd be a hypocrite if I say I've never thought about that."

Mirambil, also 36, adds: "Why not if there are opportunities?"

Future may be dim

Pilot migration is a common problem among the world's air forces. In the PAF, it is regarded as a more pressing concern than its dwindling and aging fleet.

"Honestly, that's a problem because these are supposedly our very qualified pilots, those who are already test pilots, those who are combat-ready," says PAF chief Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog.

"The only reason people are migrating outside is really financial. People have different needs in life," says Brig. Gen. Rolando Capacia, former commander of Villamor Air Base and now chief of the 1st Air Division.

The future of military aviation may be dim unless the matter is addressed urgently, says Col. Restituto Padilla Jr., PAF Flying School commandant.

"In a sense, if we fail to speed up training, if migration is not arrested, it will happen. We may lose a middle echelon group that is the critical component in the transition and the continuity of good pilots. I don't see it that imminent, but we have to act already," Padilla says.

Ideal ratio: 4 pilots to 1 plane

Cadungog says the Air Force is short-staffed, falling below the ideal ratio of four pilots to one aircraft. Even given the PAF's modest fleet, its 1,011 pilots share military aircraft at three per plane.

"If you consider operational requirements, there's no shortage because at a given time, some of the aircraft are under maintenance, so the ratio is still at the ideal," Cadungog says.

Despite popular perception that the PAF is in dire need of a fleet boost, Cadungog says it has just enough air power to fulfill its task of servicing ground troops and providing air cover in the military's internal security operations.

"Geographically, there isn't enough, but operationally, we can address conflicts ... There's no problem. I'm very much comfortable," the PAF chief says.

PAF fleet

The PAF has a fleet of 44 Vietnam war-era UH-1H (Huey) helicopters, the military's workhorse used for training, cargo, medical and combat flights. Two C-130 cargo planes alternate for troop and logistics service, while three N22-C Nomad turbo-propellers transport lighter cargo.

There are seven MG-520 attack helicopters, mostly on standby at the Western Mindanao Command where government forces are pursuing Moro rebels and Abu Sayyaf bandits.

Seven OV-10 Broncos, attack turboprops, often fly with the MGs during aerial combat operations. A few Hueys fitted with night-navigation flight equipment help out in nighttime missions, but the PAF is acquiring night-capable attack helicopters despite a recently botched contract.

External defense

Two Huey 2s, UH-1H choppers with cranked-up speed and power, are used for rescue missions, along with two S-76 Sikorsky helicopters and one Bell-205.

One Fokker plane serves military officials and other government VIPs.

Used for pilot training at the PAF Flying School in Lipa City in Batangas province are nine T-41D primary trainers and two SF-260 Marchettis.

It would be a matter of "national pride" for the PAF to acquire jets, high-powered cargo aircraft, surveillance planes or Blackhawks, but Cadungog believes doing so would be for naught in a tactical viewpoint.

"If you base it on external defense, where we'd need fighter aircraft that are so expensive, but we don't have enemies ... We look pathetic, but what are we watching for?" he says.

"When it comes to internal security operations, where is that problem? If you put all our planes in Basilan, Jolo and Central Mindanao, let's see if our enemies would last. They don't even have planes," Cadungog says.

"Just the mere sound of a Huey passing through, the enemies already cower in fear."

Cadungog says the PAF's training program has been adjusted "in the last two to three years" to tackle the migration problem. The PAF has also started programs to provide non-wage benefits and on-base housing.

Fast-tracking proficiency

"We are now fast-tracking the flying proficiency of co-pilots. There is fuel for training, there is aircraft available for training," Cadungog says.

Still, Padilla cannot help but be concerned. He says it's not a matter of numbers but rather of skills.

"You get very proficient pilots, with number of hours to their credit who are moving to the airlines, bringing with them so much experience. But then you only churn out new grads with just this much experience," Padilla says.

"The PAF must watch out. That critical echelon of officers who are providing the vital link in the training, passing on knowledge and experience, we must not lose them immediately but allow them to be able to pass on what they need to pass on," he says.

Rewards beyond money

A pilot retention program must be given teeth, Padilla says, primary among them giving military aviators a raise. A PAF pilot earns monthly roughly P26,000, flying pay included.

Air forces in Malaysia and Singapore have taken steps to compete with, if not match, pilot compensation in commercial airlines, Padilla says.

"[The] PAF needs the help of government, like a law to get additional benefits, because there's the salary standardization law, and you can't just give pay increases," he says.

For the likes of Padua and Mirambil, it's not always about pay.

"When you see colleagues who now work for airlines, there are some who would feel envy. But personally, I don't because I have my own personal reasons for staying. Here, I get to save lives, and that's a reward you only get here. It's not all about money," Padua says.



Copyright 2008 Philippine Daily Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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rocky serrantes
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SPECIAL REPORT

Dedicated PAF pilots shun high pay of airlines

Silver lining in dark clouds
By Tarra Quismundo

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:44:00 06/02/2008
Most Read
Other Most Read StoriesxClose this(First of two parts)

MANILA, Philippines—As dark clouds hang over the Philippine Air Force and pilots look for silver linings elsewhere, two veteran flyers carry out rescue missions with the enthusiasm of young aviators on their inaugural flight.
Saving lives is the wind beneath the wings of Captains George Padua and Dante Mirambil Jr., both helicopter pilots of the PAF 505th Search and Rescue Group (SRG).

*edited - same as above post
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Tora^2
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:armyeek: Dude, laki naman ng fonts sa post mo

I posted the article earlier here

Mods, please merge our threads.

Thx

:salute:
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el_ramon
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dang 2 na lang ang operational na S-76?
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strikeeagle
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:ssalute: I salute those who stay . I understand those who go, siympre they have to think about their kids future. Pero kung magagwan ng govt at sa tulong na rin ng mga private companies na mabigyan ng hind lang benefits but livelihood or sme para sa kanilang mga mrs o pamilya marami siguro magdadalwang isip umalis, we all know that "flying" and defending our country is their first love.
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israeli
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For some PAF pilots, nothing beats flying mercy missions

Silver lining in dark clouds

By Tarra Quismundo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 01:29:00 06/03/2008

Read Part 1: Dedicated PAF pilots shun high pay of airlines (06/02/08)

(Second of two parts)


MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine Air Force C-130 barreled through stormy skies and touched down seamlessly on an airstrip unmarked on the aviator's map.

A crowd of hungry evacuees applauded as the Hercules approached, not because it was carrying seven tons of emergency supplies but because it was a rare bird that came to visit Borongan town in Samar province.

"People were clapping because it was the first time they saw a C-130," says Lt. Gen. Pedrito Cadungog, the PAF chief, recounting what Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr., who was on the relief flight, had told him.

Ten days of continuous rains had submerged towns and isolated villages in the province in February, triggering the worst flooding in Samar's history.

For Maj. Manuel Zambrano, the man behind the Hercules' wheel, such flights to disaster zones that allow him to serve suffering masses are what keeps him in the force in spite of the lure of better pay in commercial aviation.

Over the past two years, more than 100 pilots had left the PAF, including some of the finest and brightest aces, for greener pastures.

Not Zambrano. Nothing pumps the adrenalin more than flying on missions to places like flood-stricken northern Samar.

Last week, a C-130 ferried a 30-member Philippine medical contingent on a mercy mission to cyclone-ravaged Burma (Myanmar), along with 12 tons of urgently needed medicine and relief supplies.

"Where will you have a job where you'll be given a chance to do that? Not in the airlines," Zambrano says.

"That's one of the reasons I'm still here. It's very fulfilling.

"What is given us, we do more in return," the 17-year PAF pilot says. "The military can really help in national development. There's really ROI (return on investment). If only they give us enough funding to keep our machines flying, it will go back to the government, it will go back to the nation in disaster response, in national development."


Flight to Yogyakarta

The flight to Samar reminded Zambrano of his mission to Yogyakarta, Indonesia, in May 2006 to ferry aid and 20 medical workers in an earthquake-stricken area.

"I was so touched. They don't know us, but everybody there was bowing to us. We're just doing our job but they saw us as lifesavers," he says.

He experienced the same thing in Borongan.

"The people on the airstrip welcomed us. They all wanted to see the aircraft," Zambrano says.

Describing the plane he has grown to love, he says: "It's not a beautiful aircraft. But it's a face that a mother can love ... especially when it is carrying relief goods."

His crew gamely gave Hercules' fans an impromptu 101 on the aircraft, including a briefer on how it worked, capacity and engine power.

Besides the C-130, a PAF rescue chopper helped Samar officials penetrate a sub-village that had been isolated by floods for five days.

Maj. Butch Guevara of the PAF's 505th Search and Rescue Group says the command's Huey 2 was dispatched from Mactan, Cebu, to help bring aid to some 120 families in inundated Sitio Balogo in Barangay Balangkayan.

The chopper also airlifted aid to the towns of Maslog and Jipapad.


Heartbreaking, fulfilling

"It was both heartbreaking and fulfilling. Once we landed, the children were hugging us. They were really, really hungry and the initial first aid we could give them were hugs," Guevara says.

Some flights can be heart-rending. Zambrano piloted the C-130 that airlifted to Manila the bodies of 15 Marines slain in Basilan province in August last year.

In Borongan, Zambrano and his crew of 10 men flew almost 15,000 lb (roughly seven tons) of rice, canned goods, noodles, tents, mattresses, and clothes on their first flight to Samar on Feb. 20, landing on the nearest airstrip to disaster-hit towns.

On board were Teodoro and aid workers.

"Actually, we treated it as an ordinary mission. But having VIPs as passengers, SND (Secretary of National Defense Teodoro) who is also a pilot and his aides who are all pilots, there was pressure. You have to fly there for the first time and there's the pressure because you have to impress your passengers," Zambrano says.


Nothing but airstrip

Bad weather rendered the skies overcast on the PAF's maiden flight to the airstrip, a stretch of pavement strong enough for the military plane to land but unequipped with navigation aids. The airstrip, constructed in the 1990s and has since been used only by private aircraft, also lacks a ramp and a passenger terminal.

Making do with what was there, the PAF's crew had no option but to just park the plane on the runway itself.

Zambrano had to slow down to ease turbulence, extending by 10 minutes a flight that was supposed to take an hour and 10 minutes. The PAF's second flight the next day experienced even worse turbulence, but Zambrano's earlier flight helped him navigate by land references on his return.

The second sortie carried close to 10 tons of relief goods to Borongan, aid packs later distributed to affected towns. The C-130 could carry more, Zambrano says, but the load was the maximum weight the Borongan runway could take during touchdown.


A bit sentimental

"When we were there, military personnel could not help but be a bit sentimental and we felt this is the better mission, this is the better operation that we handle. We're not fighting our brothers but helping our brothers," he says.

"We feel that if only we were not busy fighting the other side, we can improve our disaster response because the money that we're using to fight them can be diverted to our disaster operations."
"To secure peace is to prepare for war." - Carl Von Clausewitz
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gigumaku
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Tora^2
Jun 2 2008, 03:27 AM

"If you base it on external defense, where we'd need fighter aircraft that are so expensive, but we don't have enemies ... We look pathetic, but what are we watching for?" he says.

"When it comes to internal security operations, where is that problem? If you put all our planes in Basilan, Jolo and Central Mindanao, let's see if our enemies would last. They don't even have planes," Cadungog says.

"Just the mere sound of a Huey passing through, the enemies already cower in fear."

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KOREKEK! All of these are true.

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Vietnam war Hueys, AS-211s, MD-520MGs and OV-10s are more than enough to wipe out internal threats.

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But, we are P-A-T-H-E-T-I-C = PATHETIC,

I will say it again - PATHETIC - when it comes to external defense.

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Word for the day : PATHETIC - Deserving or inciting pity

synonyms : miserable, hapless, unfortunate, poor
depressed

Filipino translations : kawawa, poorita, taong-grasa,
nanglilimos, alabado... hehehe, ano pa?

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peace out!

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Whew!

It's really hard to deal with JARHEADS !

I'm outta here... Keep dreaming !


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