Before crash, Pinoy pilot had just arrived in Afghanistan

The Filipino pilot of the cargo plane that went down in Afghanistan Tuesday had just arrived in that war-torn country, his brother informed GMANews.TV.

Henry Bulos, 44, was a contract pilot flying United Nations missions who had previously been working in Pakistan, his brother Raymundo Bulos said in a private Facebook message. "From what I know his assignment in Kabul, Afghanistan was just very recent, about 1-2 weeks ago," Raymundo said. There were seven others on board, including five other Filipinos. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) identified the other Filipino fatalities as co-pilot Rene Badilla, and crew members Nilo Medina and Ibelo Valbuena. Two others have incomplete names as of posting time: a Mr. Castillo (mechanic) and a Mr. Padora (avionics). The remaining passengers were an Indian and a Kenyan. According to the DFA, the plane was carrying NATO supplies went it crashed shortly after take-off Tuesday night from Bagram Air Field, the main US military base in Afghanistan. The weather was clear and authorities are still determining the cause of the crash. But the mountains around Kabul are a notorious hazard for pilots. Henry Bulos was a former Philippine Air Force pilot from Lipa City, Batangas who left the service with the rank of major to work overseas for TransAfrik, a United Arab Emirates-based company under contract by the US-based company National Air Cargo. Bulos' first assignment was in Kenya transporting UN relief goods. Former TV reporter Ed Lingao recalls riding a Philippine Air Force C-130 which Bulos piloted during a relief operation to Catanduanes after a landslide in 1999. “He struck me as an adventurous romantic," Lingao said, “The first thing he asked was whether I had a stills camera. ‘Sunsets are glorious in the cockpit of a C-130,’ he said, as he made room in the cockpit for me. He was as giddy as a child to show me what he meant. And the sunset certainly was breathtaking in the greenhouse cockpit." DFA spokesman Ed Malaya said that the remains of the dead are currently being retrieved. "They will be repatriated in due course. That is being done by the embassy in coordination with their employers as well as our DFA Overseas Undersecretary for Migrant Workers Affairs (OUMWA) office," he said. NATO earlier said the plane was an L-100 Hercules aircraft, the civilian equivalent of a military C-130. "The company has confirmed that a TransAfrik L-100 aircraft flying from Bagram to Kabul went down shortly before 8 pm (1530 GMT)," National Air Cargo said in a statement. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the crew and their families." Bulos left a wife and daughter, 5. "He wanted to provide a good future for his family," his brother Raymundo said. "He was a self-sacrificing and humble person. My son till now wants to be a pilot because of him." - Howie Severino, GMANews.TV