Cebu Air Force staffer among fatalities

1/29/10 - Experiencing technical problems and said that the Nomad had a valid certificate of air worthiness. He also said it was the “first time” he heard of problems with a Nomad plane. T Zamudio admitted the Nomad aircraft was old, having been acquired from Australia in 1975. He said the plane was used in the Visayas and Mindanao for many tasks, including transporting senior officers and other personnel. The Nomad, designed and built by the Government Aircraft Factories of Australia, is a twin-engine turboprop, high-winged, short-take-off-and-landing aircraft. Between 1971 and 1984, 172 Nomad units were manufactured; GAF was merged with another company in 1986. The Aviation Safety Network (http://aviation-safety.net/database/type/type.php?type=250), a website that keeps track of air accidents, recorded 31 hull loss incidents involving Nomads, with a total of 87 fatalities. Hull loss refers to an aviation accident where the damage to the aircraft is such that it must be written off, or in which the aircraft is totally destroyed. Three such incidents were recorded in the Philippines in 1993, 2000 and 2002, all involving military-owned Nomads. The Australian military has been aware of the design faults of the Nomad aircraft. Before he died in 2008, Lt Col. Glen Duus of the Royal Australian Electrical and Mechanical Engineers made a treatise (http://www.fourays.org/features—2005/nomad/nomad—1.htm) on the problems of the Nomad design

(Inquirer)