Remembering the Defiant 300 aircraft
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| Remembering the name |
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| Aeroscope March 1989 |
I have posted here the article I wrote for Aeroscope Magazine in March 1989, one year after the Defiant 300 aircraft prototype successfully flew in February 1988, that was 22 years ago. Capt. Panfilo V. Villaruel Jr., was the pilot; he's also the project director who later became the chief of the former Air Transportation Office (ATO) then went on to head the Philippine Aerospace Development Corporation (PADC). He was involved in the NAIA Tower incident and was killed during the takeover. As far as his contribution to developing the local aircraft design and construction, Captain Villaruel's legacy remains as one of the most outstanding feats in the field of Philippine aeronautical engineering.
I was one of a group of young Filipino aeronautical engineers who were imbued with the idealistic notion that we could help develop the local aircraft manufacturing industry in the country by building an aircraft prototype of our own design. Well, we did build it and the Captain did fly it but we're still nowhere on the road to establishing the local aircraft manufacturing base. Here's the saga of the Defiant 300 aircraft.
Sayang! How I wish we had an indigenous manufacturing industry. I hear Dornier is based here. I hope the government would utilize their presence in a tie-up to develop our own aircraft.
ReplyDeleteI envy you sir for having the experience of being a member of the Defiant 300's team!
Hello AJ, sorry for the late reply. Sometimes I just missed the entry to the comments section. Anyway, it's never too late to make a reply.
ReplyDeleteIt's one of the ironies in the modern world that one country is so advanced in terms of technology and another country just barely crawling to get up and develop its own. As I see it, our country is not that too far behind in other fields of technology but we are too far down in the area of aircraft design and manufacture. I just don't really know what various factors contributed to our sorry state (perhaps, it's more of the lack of political will), but I do know, the Filipino aeronautical/aerospace engineers possess the inherent talent and ability that, coupled with government commitment and financial backing, could be harnessed to jumpstart an aircraft manufacturing industry.
My experience with the design, build and assembly of the Defiant 300 experimental plane convinced me that we can do better than building a plane made of wood. It would be better still if we could tie up with international aircraft designers and manufacturers, like Dornier, to hasten technology transfer and develop the industry.
Sir thank you for the privilege of letting me use some details from your blog for my feature article about the defiant in our magazine,Aeronautica. I salute the people behind the legacy of the Defiant 300.
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