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| Southeast Asia |
| U.S. gives Philippines 11 second-hand "Hueys" |
| 2007-05-03 |
| Washington will give the Philippines 11 second-hand army "Huey" helicopters next week to help fight communist and Muslim rebels, the Philippine air force chief said on Wednesday. Lieutenant-General Horatio Tolentino said the 11 Vietnam War-era UH-1H helicopters were due to arrive from the United States on May 9 at a former U.S. navy base in Subic. "These aircraft were promised by U.S. President Bush when he visited Manila in 2003," said Tolentino, who grounded all 41 operational UH-1H craft in the country last week after one crashed in the central Philippines on April 28, killing nine people and injuring two. "Accidents could happen whether an aircraft is brand new or a refurbished." Tolentino said air force experts had ruled out engine trouble as the cause of the crash, outside an airbase on Mactan island, blaming nylon strings used in kite-flying. The Philippines has 60 helicopters, mostly second-hand, donated by the United States as part of military assistance to fight Islamic militants in the south of the mainly Catholic state. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #9 Duct tape is the state tape here in Alaska. You can do anything with it. Q.) What does duct tape have in common with "The Force"? A.) Both have a light and dark side and are the universal binding constant. sometimes the nylon strings were as thick as your thumb Horseshit! A three meter kite (or whatever) could not hoist a half-kilometer tether of centimeter diameter nylon rope. Such a coil would weight many kilos. Total crap! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-05-03 22:45 |
| #8 "The ones I saw had a span of [over a metre] and sometimes the nylon strings were as thick as your thumb," he said. Again I call BS. At least for a kite that small. Nylon rope is heavy. Perhaps a three meter kite? EVen then, when the chopper is found, it should have a kilometer of nylon rope wrapped around the rotor. I'm sure you'd see pictures of that the first time it happened. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-05-03 16:43 |
| #7 Of course it can't be "their fault" the aircraft crashed. That country has taken the blame game to a new level. With them the truth is what ever the first person says it is. Reality and truth have nothing to do with it. First, the Huey is just as strong and capable as it was 40 years ago. The aircraft sent to the PI are refurbished and are in better shape than one would think. They are delivered with detailed historical and maintenance records which the Filipino's promply throw out. They perform almost no preventive maintenance and only fix parts when they break. Bad plan when broken parts mean crashes. In 2003 they crashed two helicopters and their last fighter jet. All three crashed because they ran out of fuel in flight. The fighter crashed into a school, thank god it was a holiday. There was no post crash fire. GORB-These are delivered with the old style blades. They are easier to maintain and more durable than composite. |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2007-05-03 10:14 |
| #6 Manila, 3 May (AKI) - Muslim rebels in the Philippines are using kites as weapons against military helicopters. This is according to a veteran pilot with the Filipino airforce who had fought in Mindanao, the island where Islamic groups have been fighting for independence for about 30 years. "At first I did not want to believe it, but when I started flying in Mindanao and I saw those big kites, I learned to avoid them," said the unamed pilot in a report on the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post. "We noticed this was happening along our flight path whenever we conducted military operations." "The ones I saw had a span of [over a metre] and sometimes the nylon strings were as thick as your thumb," he said. "The kites would be flying [up to nearly 1,000 metres], higher than the helicopter, so we would not see the string," he added. In the report, the pilot said that he was convinced that the Muslim rebels flew such kites to make life difficult for the pilots. The airforce spokesperson, Colonel Epifanio Panzo, said that he had heard reports of rebels who used kites as weapons, especially in the Sulu archipelago where the terrorist group, Abu Sayyaf, operates. This issue about using kites as weapons was raised after a military helicopter crashed in Cebu, in the central Philippines, because it was entangled in kite strings. Nine people were killed in the helicopter crash. In any case, it is believed that there are no Islamic rebels operating in Cebu. The Philippines airforce has some 60 second hand helicopters that have been donated by Washington. The helicopters are used exclusively to fight the terrorist threat in the south of the country. In the past few days, the United States have officially donated another 11 "Huey" helicopters to be used against the communist rebels of the New People's Army (NPA), which is active mainly in the central and northern parts of the country and which aims to transform the Philippines into a Maoist state. |
| Posted by: Steve 2007-05-03 10:13 |
| #5 Duct tape is the state tape here in Alaska. You can do anything with it. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2007-05-03 09:16 |
| #4 Groluns, don't look too closely at these second hand helos - you might recognize the bullet holes. These birds aren't quite as old as the B-52 fleet, but they're getting close. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-03 07:35 |
| #3 I heard that the rotors are composite nowadays. Sand chews them up. So some clever guy figured out that if you put duct tape on the leading edges that it will protect them quite well! When it starts looking worn out, they just replace the duct tape! That Huey looks like quite a durable chopper. Without it I doubt there would have been a Vietnam War! |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-05-03 06:06 |
| #2 Flew just such a machine in that scenic but sometimes unpleasant land, gorb. You are quite right, a nylon string absolutely will not bring it down. The leading edge of the rotor will either snap it or wind it around the rotor shaft, chewing up the kite when it gets to the rotor. I actually saw a length of clothesline wound around a rotor shaft and they were known to break good size branches with few ill effects. A helicopter is just not as fragile as it appears to be. So many were lost in Vietnam because they were shot at on practically every mission by every VC or NVA within sight, let alone range. I was shot at with everything up to 57mm AAA (in Laos). I was hit more than a few times (though not by a 57) and lived to tell the tale. |
| Posted by: Groluns Ulomort5343 2007-05-03 03:19 |
| #1 blaming nylon strings used in kite-flying ??? These things used to leave "chopper trails" along the treetops in Vietnam. I call BS. |
| Posted by: gorb 2007-05-03 02:53 |