“God is good,” remarked Captain Antony Joseph “Jopet” Inton, pilot of Robinson helicopter with Registry No. RP – 5148.
The helicopter was purchased by the provincial government in 2008.
Inton who is also mayor of Hermosa, Bataan said that he and his passenger, Gov. Albert Garcia were safe and the helicopter was not damaged in the landing.
“On the way to landing, nagkaroon ng engine power failure. I tried to recover the engine pero hindi naka-rekober so I entered into pilot auto rotation and we landed safely,” the pilot said.
Earthfield Subdivision in Barangay Tuyo, Balanga City where the helicopter made an emergency landing is about two kilometers from Camp Tolentino where it was to land.
Inton who has been a pilot for seven years said auto rotation is a technique that pilots are trained in case of engine power failure. He said that only last week, he was in America and trained more in auto rotation.
He described their safe landing as combination of miracle, luck and skills. He said they were lucky that the chopper did not land on a building and instead on an open field.
Inton said there was a warning sound and a warning light followed by a sharp fall so he had to execute a procedure called auto rotation.
“Mabilis, parang free fall. Kung hindi ma-execute auto rotation baka hindi maka-rekober pero mabuti naman we landed safely,” the Hermosa mayor said. Inton said they came from Manila and attended a meeting and they were back to Bataan to catch up with another meeting.
Gov. Garcia begged off to be interviewed.
