March 10, 2007:
The Philippines is rebuilding its air force, and is doing so
by taking care of some pretty basic aircraft needs. The air force wants to
replace its 26 T-41 basic pilot training aircraft, with something equally
inexpensive, but of more recent vintage. The Philippines air force has about a
thousand pilots and 120 aircraft. It has to train about a hundred new pilots
each year, and is currently doing it with some pretty elderly aircraft.
The T-41 is basically a military version of the Cessna 172 four seat, single
engine, aircraft. The Philippines were following the American example in
adopting the commercial Cessna aircraft for pilot training. The U.S. Air Force
stopped using the T-41 in the early 1990s, and replaced them the Pilatus PC-9,
which has a layout (one pilot sits behind the other) more suitable for military
pilot training. The PC-9 was built for military pilot training. The Philippines
may find it more cost effective to buy another single engine commercial
aircraft as a trainer. While the PC-9 is designed specifically for pilot
training, the air force unofficially prefers something like the T-41 because it
could be used on the weekends to take groups of officers on trips around the
many islands that make up the Philippines.