It is now confirmed that the Crew of the FA-50PH Fighting Eagle of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) were found inside the Aircraft, they didn't have time to eject whatever it was that happened to them. Remember that we have now lost two brand new and highly advanced Aircraft in Butuan, the other one was the very new Hermes 900 Drone back in 2022, and now this.
I initially thought that maybe they could've been shot down or something, but it now seems that they likely just crashed into the Mountain, which is almost 3 km tall. Makes me wonder though how could our finest Pilots, who have not only flown the FA-50PH in Real Life, but have also done a lot of Simulator Training on it on the PAF's FA-50PH Simulator, could still end up likely crashing like that.
The A-29B Super Tucano Aircraft and AW109AH Helicopters have been operating at Night for a good Number of Years now, and none has been lost so far, knock on Wood. But one Thing that those Aircraft have that the FA-50PH doesn't are Forward Looking Infra Red (FLIR) Cameras.
The FA-50PH in itself is Night-Capable, but of course having FLIRs would give it an added Margin of Safety. The Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) have integrated the Litening Targeting Pod which has FLIR in it with the FA-50, but only with the newer Models than the ones we bought.
I think that the PAF should acquire FLIRs and pay for the Integration of these into their FA-50PH so they can continue to do Night Operations with it with more Confidence …
