Two Philippine Air Force trainer aircraft crashed during a training flight at an air base south of the capital Manila, resulting in the deaths of four pilots, the military announced on Saturday. The aviation accident took place on Friday and involved two SF-260 aircraft operating out of the Fernando Air Base located in Batangas province, according to a statement from the Philippine Air Force. Local media outlets have indicated that the two planes collided in midair.
The aircraft went down directly within the grounds of the air base, and authorities confirmed there were no other casualties resulting from the incident. Following the crash, the Air Force took immediate action by temporarily grounding its entire fleet of SF-260 trainer planes pending a thorough investigation into what caused the accident.
This incident follows previous fatal accidents involving the same model. In May, two pilots died when an SF-260 trainer aircraft crashed in a mountainous region in the northern Philippines, and another SF-260 TP Marchetti went down during a 2023 training flight, also claiming two lives. The military previously utilized SF-260 aircraft for months of airstrikes on southern Marawi City after militants aligned with the Islamic State seized the area in 2017.