Taborlupa Jr.
MANILA, Philippines - The pilot who died in a helicopter crash in Cuenca, Batangas on Sunday was a former officer of the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG).
Felicisimo Esteban Taborlupa Jr. – the pilot of the helicopter carrying Victoria Court motel chain owner Archimedes King and six others – was a member of the Naval Air Group, according to Navy public affairs chief Cmdr. Lued Lincuna.
A graduate of Philippine Military Academy (PMA) “Sanghaya” class of 2000, Taborlupa resigned from the military to join the PCG in September 2010, where he was given the rank of Lieutenant Senior Grade.
He was married to Maj. Francel Margaret Padilla-Taborlupa, an Army officer assigned to the Presidential Security Group. They have two sons, aged 12 and 14.
The 38-year-old pilot was described by his military colleagues as a professional soldier and a stickler for rules.
“He had a vibrant personality, full of vision and competitive when it comes to academics and career,” said Maj. Arnold Lubang, a classmate of Taborlupa assigned at the Camp Aguinaldo general headquarters.
Maj. Lemuel Baduya, a former colleague of Taborlupa at the PMA New Cadets Battalion, said he would remember the late pilot as someone who “was a very consummate professional” without any bad record.
Because of his reputation, Taborlupa was named a member of the PMA Honor Committee, a panel that investigates cadets accused of violating the honor system.
“He (Taborlupa) did not pester the younger cadets. He was not involved in fights,” Baduya said, adding that he was shocked to learn about the death of his former colleague.
“He was a very careful pilot and he was not aggressive,” he said.
PCG spokesman Cmdr. Armand Balilo, meanwhile, yesterday described Taborlupa as a “seasoned pilot” who has been part of missions during the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda in Eastern Visayas and the 7.2-magnitude earthquake in Bohol in 2013.
“We are saddened by the sudden passing of Taborlupa. He was a veteran pilot. We lost a seasoned pilot, an officer and a gentleman,” Balilo said.
Taborlupa, the deputy commander of the PCG Air Group, was given a bronze cross medal and a military merit medal while in the Navy for his acts of heroism during disaster relief and rescue operations during the onslaught of Typhoons Pepeng and Ondoy, respectively, in Pangasinan in 2009.
Taborlupa and King died after their helicopter crashed into a forested area in Mount Maculot around 12:45 p.m. Sunday. The Augusta 109E helicopter, with registry number RP-C2726, was bound for Manila from Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro when the incident happened.
The six other passengers were Lingling, wife of King; Christopher Chilip, president of Dunlop tires distributor Tyremart, and his wife Patricia Echauz-Chilip, Standard Insurance president and daughter of former Far Eastern University head Lydia Echauz; entrepreneur Ricco Ocampo and his model-designer wife Tina Maristela-Ocampo; and Anton San Diego, editor-in-chief of the Philippine Tatler magazine.
They sustained contusions on the head, bruises and broken ribs and were rushed to the Martin Marasigan Hospital before being transferred to the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig.
According to Sr. Insp. Joel Laraya, Cuenca police chief, one of the injured has been discharged from the St. Luke’s Medical Center, while two others are under observation. The other three are in stable condition, he said.
Laraya said personnel from the Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) has started their probe at the crash site yesterday to determine the real cause of the incident.
“The CAAP investigators are coordinating with us,” Laraya told The STAR. He pointed out, however, that they only handed over to the CAAP their spot and progress reports and photos of the incident, as the aviation authority would conduct separate interviews with the survivors and the witnesses.
According to police authorities, the probers said the release of the results of their investigation could take a month.
Laraya said the CAAP personnel are now checking if the aircraft owner and the pilot had secured clearance or permit from the Flight Operations Briefing Station in Manila and in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro before taking off on Sunday morning from Puerto Galera.
Citing initial reports from CAAP, Laraya told The STAR that there was no distress call from the helicopter to the nearest Fernando Airbase in Lipa City, Batangas around the time of the incident.
Despite claims made by survivors that they encountered zero visibility during the flight, Laraya said they would also be investigating other possible causes of the incident, such as engine trouble, human error and environment conditions.
Criminal aspect against the helicopter owner, however, is not seen as a possible cause of the crash, he said.
According to the town police chief, Lingling King said that their level above sea had been consistent throughout the flight until they hovered over Cuenca, where she observed that they were already approaching the ground.
Laraya noted that the helicopter should have flown at a higher altitude, given the town’s mountainous and elevated terrain.
He said due to the stormy weather condition and poor visibility, the helicopter crashed into the trees in the forested area after which its tail fell, causing the aircraft to lose balance and plunge head first to the ground.
The STAR reported on Monday that Taborlupa had tried to land the aircraft nose down in San Jose, Batangas to save lives.
Source: http://www.philstar.com
Archie King
The helicopter that carried billionaire and hotel owner Archimedes “Archie” King did not advise aviation authorities about its return flight on Sunday, hours before the aircraft went down near Mount Maculot in Batangas province in the midst of bad weather.
Eric Apolonio, spokesman of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP), on Monday said it did not receive a flight plan from the aircraft, an Augusta 109E with Registry No. RP-C2726, for its return trip to Manila.
A flight plan, which provides aviation authorities of the flight details, would have allowed the CAAP to monitor the helicopter and advise its pilot of the weather disturbances while it was on flight, Apolonio said.
Nose-dived
The helicopter, flown by pilot Felicisimo Esteban Taborlupa Jr., crashed at the height of heavy rains and a thick fog in a forested area in Barangay (village) Pinagkaisahan in Cuenca town around 12:45 p.m. on Sunday.
The Cuenca police chief, Senior Insp. Joel Laraya, said the aircraft nose-dived, pinning Taborlupa, who instantly died, and seriously injuring King, who was seated beside the pilot.
King later died of severe wounds and fractures at a hospital in Cuenca, while the rest of the passengers, seated at the back, survived.
They were identified as King’s wife, Angeles, Inquirer Lifestyle columnist Anton San Diego, bag designer Tina Maristela-Ocampo and her husband, Ricco Ocampo, and couple Christopher and Patricia Chilip.
According to CAAP records, the aircraft left Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) around 10:17 a.m. on Saturday for Puerto Galera in Oriental Mindoro province.
Normal route
It left Puerto Galera, a known beach town, the next day past 10 a.m. via the “normal route” back to Manila.
A source said one of the survivors was still wearing a swimming suit when brought to the hospital in Cuenca.
“The travel time from Puerto Galera to Naia is around 45 minutes only under normal conditions,” Apolonio said.
He also said the CAAP, as early as 10 a.m. on Sunday, had issued an advisory suspending visual flight rules. This meant that small aircraft, such as that of King’s, were no longer allowed to fly due to the poor visibility resulting from the bad weather.
Abort flight
“If they had submitted a flight plan, the CAAP would have advised the pilot to abort the flight,” Apolonio said.
A team from the CAAP Aircraft Accident Investigation and Inquiry Board (AAIIB) on Monday went to the crash site, a 40-minute uphill climb from the town proper, to commence its investigation.
AAIIB chief engineer Francisco Nahera Jr. said his team was planning to tear open the chopper’s engine to determine whether the aircraft had engine trouble.
“We are considering all factors—the weather and the aircraft itself (in the investigation),” Apolonio said.
As of Monday afternoon, the wreckage of the chopper had not yet been pulled out of the site.
No explosions
Nahera said the helicopter, as it was about to crash, hit a tree before breaking its tail and rotor blades. There were no explosions or fire that followed the crash.
Rodante Joya, CAAP deputy director general for operations, said previous flight records of the pilot would have to be checked and verified, and investigators would have to sift through the debris of the crash to determine if the helicopter had malfunctioned or was 100 percent in working condition.
Zero visibility
“Basically, the weather remains the principal cause. We have to consider the environment there,” Joya said, pointing out that the helicopter might have encountered zero visibility because of the thick rain clouds over Batangas.
Lipa City has an elevation of 1,200 feet similar to Tagaytay and is prone to occurrences of fog and clouds that make visibility impossible.
“We can only speculate that the pilot may have tried to look for a way through the clouds,” Joya told the Inquirer.
He pointed out that there was no indication that the helicopter directly crashed into Mt. Maculot, which would have resulted in more deaths.
“It is possible that the helicopter flew too low and could have grazed trees or a landform,” Joya said.
He said it was not easy to maneuver a helicopter when terrain suddenly loomed before a pilot from zero visibility.
When the helicopter left Puerto Galera the skies were clear, Joya noted.
Loud thump
The Pinagkaisahan village chief, Celestino Lunar, said barangay (village) folk even saw the helicopter as it flew past his house, about a kilometer away from them, before it crashed.
“My wife and I were having lunch when we saw this helicopter flying very low,” he said. He said he suddenly lost sight of the aircraft in the thick fog before he heard a very loud thump.
“It sounded like something big hit a tree. We knew it was that helicopter.”
King looked strong
Lunar and other residents near the crash site were the first to respond, helping the survivors walk down the mountain to a rescue team that waited for them.
“When I arrived, I saw him (Taborlupa) already outside the helicopter. He was already gone,” Lunar said.
He said the pilot’s seat looked like “it was ejected out of the helicopter” by the impact. King was still in his seat pinned inside the helicopter.
Lunar said villagers pulled the still conscious King out of the chopper as he limped with his badly injured left leg. The businessman could no longer speak and only moaned, he said.
“He looked strong though. When his shirt got pulled up, as we tried to carry him, he was able to pull it down himself with his arm,” Lunar said.
“I thought he would have survived,” he added.
Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net
Batangas police said the Augusta 109E chopper with registry number RP-C2726 was operated by King’s Malate Tourist Development Corp.
The injured passengers, meanwhile, were identified as Lingling King, the motel chain owner’s wife; designer Tina Ocampo and her husband Rico Ocampo; Philippine Tatler editor-in-chief Anton San Diego; and Standard Insurance president Patricia Chilip and her husband, Christopher Chilip.
They were brought to the Martin Marasigan Hospital before being transferred to St. Luke's in Manila.
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The son of a Chinese-Filipino billionaire, who made his fortune by establishing a chain of hotels and motels in the country, died as his private chopper crashed in a forested area near Mt. Maculot in Barangay Pinagkaisahanin in Cuenca town, Batangas province on its way to Manila on Sunday.
Archimedes “Archie” Rosario King, 62, the owner of Victoria Court chain of motels, died as their helicopter crashed in the mountain at around noon, Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Chairman Richard Gordon told INQUIRER.net in a phone interview.
Citing reports from the PRC responders from the ground, Gordon said that the chopper’s pilot, Felicisimo Esteban Taborlupa Jr., also died in the crash.
Meanwhile, six other persons sustained injuries and were initially treated at the Martin Marasigan Memorial Hospital in Cuenca.
The passengers were: King’s wife, Ling-ling King; Inquirer Lifestyle columnist Anton San Diego; renowned bag designer Tina Maristela Ocampo and her husband, fashion retail businessman Ricco; Standard Insurance CEO Patricia Chilip and her husband Christopher, who runs a Dunlop tire distribution company.
According to Gordon, the injured passengers will be transferred to St. Luke’s Medical Center at Fort Bonifacio in Taguig City.
The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said that the helicopter was an Augusta 109E helicopter with registry number RP-C2726. operated by Malate Tourist Dev’t Corp.
CAAP said that the helicopter went to Puerto Galera and left for Manila Sunday morning.
Senior Inspector Joel Laraya, Cuenca town police chief, said they suspected the helicopter crashed due to the bad weather spawned by tropical storm Egay. Police were still trying to find out if the helicopter was given a clearance to fly, he added.
“We’re still experiencing heavy rains here until now,” Laraya said in a phone interview past 5 p.m. Sunday.
Larayas said the crash site was just about 2.5 kilometers from the village proper but very few residents saw what happened since the area was difficult to reach during bad weather.
In good weather, reaching the site would require an uphill climb of at least 30 minutes, he said.
Laraya said some villagers who saw the crash immediately informed the village chief who, in turn, called the town police station for help.
Laraya said he and his men were assisted by some village volunteers and local Red Cross personnel when they extracted the eight passengers of the helicopter from the crash site.
He said the helicopter was a total wreck.
As of 5 p.m., the wreckage of the helicopter was still at the crash site, which was being secured by policemen from the Cuenca municipal police station and from the Philippine National Police-Batangas Provincial Public Safety Company.
King was one of the heirs of billionaire Angelo King, who made the family fortune by establishing the Anito Lodge chain of motels. The family patriarch first established Anito Lodge in Pasay City in the 1970s and later expanded the business. He later passed on the family business to his sons Archie and Wyden.
It was Archimedes King who established Victoria Court, a chain of high-end motels in Metro Manila. It now has 10 branches.
Meanwhile his brother, Wyden, led the expansion of Kabayan Hotels.
With his fortune, Angelo King became a philanthropist when he established the Angelo King Foundation in 1978. He became the foundation’s chairman emeritus when he retired from the family business in 1999.
In 2014, Forbes cited the 87-year-old patriarch as one of Asia’s notable philanthropists, with his foundation donating more than $515,000 in 2013.
Some of the donations were poured into the construction of buildings, schools, homes for the aged, orphanages, children centers, and drug rehabilitation centers, and charity donations, among others.
Read more: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net
The helicopter had a tail registry number RP-C2726.
The incident happened at past noon. At around 12:30pm, the six injured victims were brought down from the mountain and rushed to the Martin Marasigan Hospital for treatment.
Police and residents in the area said it was raining and the mountaintop was foggy when the incident happened. They were on their way back to Manila from Puerto Galera.
Authorities are still investigating the cause of the crash, including the possibility that it was related to weather disturbances caused by tropical storm “Egay.”
Manila Bulletin reports that one of the seven passengers was Archie King, head of Victoria Group of Companies, and son of Chinese Filipino billionaire and philanthropist Angelo King.
The other casualty was Capt Felissimo Taborlupa, the pilot.
Philippine Red Cross chairman Richard Gordon confirmed the incident with Inquirer.net.
The other passengers have been identified by Manila Bulletin as King's wife Ling-ling, socialite model Tina Ocampo, her husband Ricco De Ocampo, Tatler magazine editor Anton San Diego, Christopher Chilip, Patricia Chilip.
They have been transferred to St Luke's Medical Center in BGC, according to the report.
Source: http://manila.coconuts.co
CAAP PR fail on Cuenca chopper crash: ‘Pueta Gallera, Phillipines, immediatelly’
It seems like the press release writer of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) was in bed weather mood as Sunday’s statement spewed out misspelled words after another about the helicopter crash in Cuenca, Batangas that claimed the life of motel king Archie King.
The CAAP sent a statement to the media using misspelled words like “immediatelly,” “Phillipines,” and – que horror! – “Pueto Gallera.”
CAAP director general Lt. Gen. William Hotchkiss III’s PR writer also failed to fix the sentence construction. We scratched our heads at the sentence “an Augusta 109E type helicopter with registry number RP-C2726 operated by Malate Tourist Devt Corp. that is base at naia genav area crash landed at Mt. Macolot, Cuenca Batangas at around 11 am today.”
Here’s another to make you think.
“But CAAP said it is still investigating the incident and cannot immediatelly confirm the cause of the crash but said that according to a certain Sgt. Caraan of A3 of Pnp Batangas there were 1 fatality while 7 others were brought to the hospital.”
Huh? It is time Hotchkiss trains his PR department some writing skills.
Source: http://politics.com.ph
(Updated 7:13 p.m.) A civilian helicopter crashed in Mt. Maculot in Cuenca, Batangas before noon on Sunday, killing the pilot and passenger Archimedes “Archie” King, founder and owner of the Victoria Court motel chain.
In a statement to the media, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines confirmed reports that the Agusta 109E helicopter, with registry number RP-C2726 operated by Malate Tourist Devt Corp. crashed on its way to Manila.
"The helicopter flew in from Puerto Galera [in Mindoro Oriental] yesterday and remained overnight and left for Manila this morning carrying eight persons," the CAAP said.
The pilot, identified as Felicisimo Taborlupa, was killed in the crash, while King died at the Martin Marasigan Memorial Memorial Hospital in Cuenca.
King's wife, Ling-ling, is among the six injured passengers, the provincial police said.
Among the injured passengers are Tatler Philippines editor-in-chief Anton San Diego, Christopher Chilip, Patricia Chilip, and model-designer Tina Maristela-Ocampo and her husband Rico.
CAAP has yet to determine what caused the crash.
More from: http://www.gmanetwork.com
Rest in peace to my SL.
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