Four pilots killed as two Philippine air force planes collide mid-air
- Two SF-260 military training planes collided over Fernando Air Base, south of Manila, on Friday afternoon.
- The Philippine Air Force said all four pilots on board died and no one else was hurt.
- The SF-260 fleet has been grounded while investigators work out what caused the crash.
Two Philippine Air Force training planes collided in mid-air over an air base south of Manila on Friday afternoon, killing all four pilots on board.
The aircraft were SF-260 single-propeller planes taking part in training at Fernando Air Base, according to a statement from the air force.
Air force spokesman Colonel Alvin Capinguian said both planes came down inside the base perimeter and that no other casualties were reported.
An investigation has been opened to establish what caused the collision. Capinguian said the air force has temporarily grounded its fleet of SF-260s as a precaution while that work goes on.
Not the first crash this year
The collision adds to a run of deadly accidents involving Philippine military aircraft in recent years.
In May, two military pilots were killed when an SF-260 crashed during a training flight in Benguet province in the northern Philippines.
The SF-260 is a light, single-engine plane long used by the Philippine air force for pilot training. Friday's crash took the lives of four people in a single afternoon, making it one of the deadlier training incidents in recent memory.
What happens next
The grounded SF-260 fleet means trainee pilots will wait for flying hours until investigators finish their work and the planes are cleared to fly again.
The air force has not said how long the grounding will last or what it suspects caused the two planes to meet in the air. Those answers will come from the investigation, which the air force says is already under way.
For now, the focus is on the families of the four pilots and on making sure the remaining aircraft are safe before training resumes.
