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The Philippines will be asking the help of the United States Air Force (USAF) in probing the C-130 aircraft crash in Sulu, which killed at least 52 people and injured 51 others.

In a phone interview with Rappler on Tuesday, July 6, Western Mindanao Command (Wesmincom) chief Lieutenant General Corleto Vinluan said the aircraft’s black box would be sent to the US Air Force through a commercial flight from the Philippines.

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Aircraft black boxes contain critical information like the pilots’ final exchanges and flight data which are helpful in aviation accident investigations.

The Philippine military is in a quandary as to what happened during the July 4 crash as its pilots are seasoned with hundreds of flight hours experience, and its Sulu runway had no reported defects.

“We currently don’t have the capability [to examine the black box], and it really is this way – where the plane came from, that’s where its black box is examined, ” Vinluan said.

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Vinluan said it was still difficult to tell when the black box would be examined.

The ill-fated plane was acquired just in January 2021 for only about P1.54 billion or $32 million. A brand-new Lockheed C-130 Hercules costs more than $150 million.

The crashed C-130 is one of 6 in the fleet of the Philippine Air Force. Only two are flying and three are undergoing preventive maintenance. (READ: Sulu crash leaves AFP without C-130s).

Meanwhile, Senator Manny Pacquiao said in a statement on Tuesday that he will give P50,000 each to the families of the fallen soldiers, and P20,000 to each soldier who got injured in the plane crash. The money will come from his personal funds, he said.

Pacquiao holds the rank of full colonel in the Army Reserve Command.  – with a report from Mara Cepeda/Rappler.com