PAF: Chinese helicopter maneuver 'unsafe, extremely dangerous'
Philippine News Agency
By Priam Nepomuceno
February 19, 2025, 3:45 pm
MANILA -- The maneuvers conducted by the Chinese Harbin Z-9 helicopter against a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) 208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft were "unsafe and extremely dangerous", the Philippine Air Force (PAF) said Wednesday.
"Definitely it's a dangerous maneuver.. as a helicopter pilot myself, and as I saw from the video, I can say that the helicopter went dangerously near, risking the lives of those onboard both aircraft," PAF spokesperson Col. Ma Consuelo Castillo said in a message to the Philippine News Agency, when asked about the Feb. 18 incident which occurred while the Philippine aircraft was on a routine maritime domain awareness flight at the Bajo de Masinloc.
Castillo said if the PLAN helicopter went as near as three meters to the BFAR aircraft, such action "is too close and extremely dangerous."
She noted that standard distance between two fixed wing aircraft, as taught in their formation flight training, should be "one to two wing span".
"So it depends on the wing span of the aircraft involved. Our small fixed wing trainer aircraft's wing span is around 36 ft. (approximately 11 meters) , so that is basically the smallest safe distance allowed to go near another aircraft," she added.
For rotary or helicopter flight formation, Castillo said the "closest safe distance is two to three rotor span (34.2 meters to 51.3 meters)." (PNA)
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