A Philippine Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport plane heads back to PH in a bid to help improve air security.
"The PAF has been responsive and was able to airlift supplies and equipment to our countrymen with a single C-130 during disasters and calamities. Now with another one, we will double that capability," Lt. General Lauro Dela Cruz, PAF commanding general, said in a press statement.
Colonel Miguel Okol, PAF spokesman, said the C-130 with tail number
4704, had been going through periodic depot maintenance at the British
Aerospace facility in Mojave, California since August.
Final maintenance checks on the C-130 were done on October 14 before
it flew back to the Philippines. Colonel Jose Mirandilla, deputy wing
commander of the 220th Airlift Wing, led the PAF flight crew, with Major
Michael Encarnacion acting as pilot-in-command. Also in the crew were
Captains Ian Danes and Merrito Quijano, who were co-pilots on the
flight, and test pilot Lieutenant Colonel Ramil Oloroso.
The C-130 made stopovers at Hawaii, Wake Island, and Guam before landing at Col. Jesus Villamor Air Base in Pasay City.
Lockheed, which makes the C-130, calls the airplane the "world's proven airlifter."
"Throughout aviation history, no aircraft, either developed or under
development, can match the flexibility of the C-130 Hercules. In
production longer than any other military aircraft, the Hercules has
always demonstrated the ability to fulfill the mission at hand," it said
on its website.
It can carry 92 combat troops or 64 paratroopers or cargo weighing a total of 42,000 pounds
