2021 Philippine Air Force C-130 crash
Lockheed C-130H Hercules · Failed go-around attempt, resulting in loss of control; under investigation
From Villamor Air Base, Pasay, Philippines to Jolo Airport (JOL)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 53 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 3
- Occupants
- 104
- Survivors
- 54
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 46 · 4 on the ground
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Military
Lockheed C-130H Hercules
- Aircraft type
- Lockheed C-130
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- 5125
- Operator
- Philippine Air Force
- Onboard fatalities
- 50
- Route
- From Villamor Air Base, Pasay, PhilippinesTo Jolo Airport (JOL)
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On July 4, 2021, a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft of the Philippine Air Force (PAF) crashed after an attempted landing at Jolo Airport in Sulu, Philippines. With 53 deaths, of which 50 people were on the aircraft and 3 on the ground, the incident is the deadliest aviation accident in Philippine military history, the fourth deadliest on Philippine soil, and the second deadliest to occur in 2021, behind Sriwijaya Air Flight 182.
Accident
On July 4, 2021, the aircraft took off from Villamor Air Base in Pasay and headed to Lumbia Airfield in Cagayan de Oro. From Cagayan de Oro, the aircraft transported personnel to Jolo, Sulu. At 11:30 a.m. Philippine Time (UTC+08:00), the plane crashed after attempting to land at Jolo Airport. The aircraft overshot the runway, crashed in the nearby municipality of Patikul, and caught fire.
Fifty military personnel on board, including the pilot in command, and 3 civilians on the ground died, while 46 occupants on board and 4 civilians on the ground were injured. The 3 civilian deaths involved quarry workers. The crash is the Philippine Air Force's deadliest aviation accident in history, surpassing the 1971 Douglas C-47 Skytrain crash in Floridablanca, Pampanga which killed 40 people.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Department of National Defense and the military has urged the public to refrain from spreading "highly speculative statements" about the incident and assured that an investigation on the crash is already being done.
The military has ruled out the possibility that the crash was caused by an attack against the aircraft. Among the angles being considered are the condition of the aircraft, the runway, if there was a human error, and if the plane was overloaded. An investigating team from the AFP arrived at the crash site on July 5. The aircraft's flight recorder and voice cockpit recorder were both recovered. Both were sent to the United States so that the recorded data from the devices could be retrieved.
The military disclosed to the public in September 2021 that there is no single attributable cause for the crash in Sulu. The report said that the accident was "most probably due to actual or perceived material factors and induced human factors which were aggravated by local and environmental conditions.” It added that the “aircraft component, environmental condition and aircrew response led to unrecoverable stall in a critical phase of the aircraft operation".
Text from the Wikipedia article “2021 Philippine Air Force C-130 crash” (revision 1353902110, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2021 Philippine Air Force C-130 crash
- Revision
- 1353902110 · 2026-05-13 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q107410982
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2021 Philippine Air Force C-130 crash" (page 68136148, revision 1353902110)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator named as an armed force or military unit in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities plus ground fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.