PAL COO Pilots PR1

18 November 2022

Philippine Airlines (PAL) President and Chief Operating Officer Stanley Ng was back in the cockpit last week as he flew President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to Cambodia for the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) Summit on board PR1.

Ng was also the pilot who flew the Airbus A321neo (RP-C9933) plane that Marcos and his entourage rode back to Manila from Cambodia.

Ng who is married to Lilybeth Tan, one of the daughters of PAL owner Lucio Tan, rose from the ranks of the company, first as ground staff in 2003 before being promoted to second officer in 2008 upon earning his stripes. 

The COO served as PAL’s Senior Vice President for Airline Operations during the incumbency of former PAL President and COO Gilbert Sta. Maria before his appointment as president and COO for the airline January last year. 

 

FA50 On PR1, Again

PAF Escorts PR1 To US

Two FA-50 fighter jets deployed by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is seen flying beside a Philippine Air Lines (PAL) plane as it escorts the flight of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to New York, United States on Sept. 18, 2022. (Photo by Philippine Air Force / PAF

 19 September 2022

By by Martin Sadongdong 

The Philippine Air Force (PAF) has utilized two of its FA-50 fighter jets to escort the flight of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. for an official visit to New York in the United States.

One of the two FA-50 fighter jets deployed by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is seen flying beside a Philippine Air Lines (PAL) plane as it escorts the flight of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to New York, United States on Sept. 18, 2022. (Photo by Philippine Air Force / PAF)

Lt. Gen. Connor Anthony Canlas Sr., PAF Commanding General, posted on his Facebook account a photo of one of the two FA-50 fighter jets flying beside a Philippine Air Lines (PAL) plane carrying the Commander-in-Chief as it left the country on Sunday, Sept. 18.

“The fighter jets escorted the Presidential flight in the country’s eastern front starting over Polilio Island all the way up to 200 nautical miles,” Col. Ma. Consuelo Castillo, PAF spokesperson, said Tuesday, Sept. 20.

“This is the first time that our FA-50s were able to escort out President [Marcos Jr.] on a foreign trip. During the earlier presidential trips, our fighter jets had been committed for priority patrol missions elsewhere that needed its urgent presence,” she added.

The PAF’s escort to Marcos Jr.’s flight lasted for a “few minutes.” After that, the two FA-50 fighter jets went for a regular maritime patrol to secure the country from unauthorized intrusions within the Philippine Air Defense Identification Zone (PADIZ), she noted.

“Considering that we have limited aircraft, our government’s priority is for our aircraft to be utilized for such urgent and critical missions. That’s why even in the brief fighter escort mission, we jibed it with the conduct of a maritime patrol,” Castillo said.

One of the two FA-50 fighter jets deployed by the Philippine Air Force (PAF) is seen flying beside a Philippine Air Lines (PAL) plane as it escorts the flight of Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to New York, United States on Sept. 18, 2022. (Photo by Philippine Air Force / PAF)

Marcos Jr. is on an official visit to New York to participate in the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He was scheduled to speak in the high-level UN debate on Tuesday to discuss climate change, rule of law, and food security.

In the recent past, Castillo recalled that flight escorting had been done during the official trips of the late former President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, but not during the time of Marcos Jr.’s predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte.

“That time (Duterte’s administration), the feedback to me is that it was not done [flight escorting],” she said.

Escorting of presidential flights is “more than just a tradition” in the PAF as it is also an essential standard operating procedure (SOP) to clear and secure the air space for the arrival and departure of the President of the Republic and other visiting heads of state, according to Castillo. The said procedure is similarly practiced in other countries for added security of their presidential flights.

Just Like What We Said

2 September 2018

First Philippine Airlines plane in Israel, the Airbus A350-900 (RP-C3501)

Philippine President Rodrigo R, Duterte has embarked on a visit to Israel via PAL A350-900 (see our report here), the first such trip by a Philippine president, as part of a regional tour that will also include a stop in Jordan.

The 73-year-old said on Sunday he would seek to re-affirm and renew relations with the two countries, where an estimated 76,000 Filipinos live and work.

"I leave today for landmark visits that underscore our vision for our country - a responsible member of the world community - a Philippines that is friend to all and an enemy to no one," Duterte said before departing for Tel Aviv.

At least 1,400 Filipinos are set to meet President Rodrigo Duterte when he arrives at the Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv 8:10pm Sunday night and will go immediately to the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem for his meeting with the Filipino community.

PR1 First To Fly Israel

15 August 2018

President Rodrigo Duterte will visit Israel, the first Philippine President to do so, from Sept. 2 to 5. He will be brought by Philippine Airlines latest jet, the Airbus A350-900 aircraft.

Malacañang on Tuesday confirmed that the President had accepted the invitation of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a press briefing, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the trip to Israel would be followed by a visit to Jordan, though no details of the Jordan trip were made available.

PR1 in Moscow

23 May 2017

First visit by a Philippine President to the Russian Federation in more than 25 years after President Fidel Ramos visited the country in September 11, 1997.

When President Flies Economy

Walking the Talk

6 January 2017

No this is not PR1 but a regular PAL flight out of Davao. Treat it as you will but this is the first economy flight of a sitting Philippine President taken on January 5, 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte earlier took a premium economy seat on board PAL going home to Davao City in July last year.

It was however former President Benigno Aquino who got the distinction of flying economy class first when he flew Cebu Pacific from Manila to Bandar Seri Begawan. The only difference was that President Aquino sat in front while President Duterte sat in the back like an ordinary passenger.

PR1 Lands in Lima

18 November 2016

PR1 Skips US Airspace For Lima

14 November 2016

Duterte Keeps Word To Stay Away From America

True to his words that he will not go to the United States or fly over it, President Rodrigo R. Duterte will skip flying US airspace and that of their territories as he embarks on the longest travel of his life to the South American nation of Peru.

PR1 will leave noon on Thursday and will fly instead to Auckland in New Zealand for technical stop, arriving there at 2:30 in the morning where the Boeing 777-300ER plane will refuel and will leave two hours later for Lima, Peru arriving in the Peruvian Capital at 11:30 p.m.

Philippine Airlines could have taken him to Lima via the fastest route through Honolulu in Hawaii for technical stop but the President declined the route and instead insisted on taking different route away from US airspace as far as possible.

The longer route has something to do with immigration transfers and rudeness of some immigration staff, which Duterte suffered first hand despite holding diplomatic passport.

Duterte, then a Congressman, was invited officially to Brazil. As he recounts his ordeal:

“I was going to Brazil with some of the Congressmen and when we came back - because our entry, port of entry was L.A going there was Miami. You know when I was cleared by Customs, I was going out at the LA LAX airport. ”

“Here comes this black guy in uniform also black, with the pistol also black and his shoes was black and I thought that he was somebody - no slur intended that is his original color. And he accosted me and said 'May I see your passport.' So I gave him, it was a diplomatic passport because we were travelling most of the Congressman in my entourage were travelling with passport diplomatic. And he said, “Where is your letter of authority to travel?” And so that was the first time that I say it was missing. And I said with probably because that letter was addressed to the port of entry in South America, which is Brazil and it was not clipped and so probably it was not re-inserted in the passport and it was lost this way.”

“This guy brought me to a room to interrogate me and I said I’m a Congressman of my place, so what do you want to know. I said, if you detain me any further and if there’s a plane available going back to the Philippines now, I’ll be happy to ride and go home. That was the last time I went to America.”

The Philippines and the United States also has had a bad start on their relationship since Duterte assumed office in July due to interference by President Barack Obama over his brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.

PR1 would be taking the same return route on Sunday at 7:00p.m. towards Auckland and Manila.

The 2016 Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders summit will be held from November 18-19. Peru first hosted the summit in 2008.