C-130 Crash

Let's pause for a while for the terrible tragedy that has befallen the crew & passengers of the ill-fated Davao-Iloilo PAF C-130 flight.

Don't be mislead by the manifest stated with the pilots and crew. The C-130 is a large plane, which has a normal capacity of 92 passengers, but that capacity is with seats. In a typical PAF flight, seats are removed, and the passengers sit on whatever cargo that is available or even the floor. So this may translate to around 150-200 actual passengers.

In addition, the C-130 has 4 engines, so if one conks out, the plane can still land. And there are no weapons held by non-friendly forces that are strong enough to shoot down any plane, much more a C-130.

===============

Update:

Since there's no loud protestations so far from the families of the possible victims of the flight (excluding the pilots and crew), the C-130 could have just had only the nine of them on board to pick-up the contingent at Iloilo, so I could be wrong about the flight having around 150-200 passengers.

But still I have my doubts. Because of the capacity of the plane, it would be a waste to send it to pick-up troops without ferrying other passengers or cargo along the way. So I don't know if they're keeping the other victims' relatives very quiet, or they're not disclosing if they have additional cargo.