Four pilots killed in Philippine Air Force trainer crash; SF-260 fleet grounded

![Context image: an SF-260 trainer displayed at the Philippine Air Force Aerospace Museum in 2008; it does not depict the crash.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Philippine_Air_Force_SF-260_-_Front-Left_Side_View.jpg) *Context image: this SF-260 was photographed at the Philippine Air Force Aerospace Museum in 2008; it is not one of the aircraft involved. Photo: RoyKabanlit, [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Philippine_Air_Force_SF-260_-_Front-Left_Side_View.jpg), licensed [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).* Four Philippine Air Force pilots died when two SF-260 trainer aircraft crashed during a training flight at Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas, on Friday, October 23. The Air Force said the accident happened at 3:51 p.m. local time and both aircraft went down inside the base perimeter; no other casualties were reported. The military has not announced the cause. The Associated Press reported the aircraft collided at low altitude. The Air Force has grounded its SF-260 fleet as a precaution while an investigation gets underway. The crash follows another fatal SF-260 training accident in Benguet in May, in which two pilots died. That earlier incident does not establish a connection between the crashes; investigators have yet to say what happened in Lipa.