Philippines grounds Black Hawk fleet after deadly crash

The Philippines grounded its entire fleet of Black Hawk helicopters yesterday after one of the new aircraft crashed during a night-time training flight, killing all six on board. 

Three pilots and three airmen died when their S70-i went down near the Crow Valley training range north of Manila on Wednesday, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said.

"The entire Black Hawk fleet are grounded while the incident is being investigated," Lorenzana said.

The country ordered 16 of the multi-role aircraft from a Polish firm that made them under licence from the Sikorsky division of US defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin.