SUPER FIRE 7

For many returning Overseas Filipinos, the journey home is filled with optimism and excitement -- a welcome break from OFW life. 
 
But for 317 of our countrymen based in Lebanon, returning home on September 3, 2020 was not a matter of choice but of circumstance. 

In the midst of the COVID pandemic, a catastrophic explosion rocked the city of Beirut when a warehouse at the port filled with ammonium nitrate caught fire.
 
More than 200 people died in the disaster, which left more than 6,500 injured and damaged a large swath of the Lebanese capital. This caused chaos and uncertainty among Filipinos in that city, imperiling their jobs as the Lebanese economy reeled from both the explosion and the continuing pandemic.
 
This emergency situation prompted the Philippine government to work with Philippine Airlines in organizing a rescue mission. 
 
PAL Captain Leo Bernabe, then Chief Pilot of the airline's Boeing 777 division, volunteered to lead the flight. 

Capt. Leo recalled: “I thought this was a very important mission that PAL had to accomplish despite the current COVID-19 pandemic. We had mounted rescue flights before to Miami, Barbados and some other destinations, but Beirut was different -- it was just a few weeks after the massive bomb blast that had damaged so much infrastructure."
 
He adds, “So with all these dire conditions, PAL had to ensure that our countrymen would be able to go home safely.”
 
At a time when COVID was at an all-time high, PAL's professional specialists rose to meet the call of duty head-on.  Capt. Leo led a mission team of eight pilots and twenty-eight cabin crew members, as two full sets of crew were required for the round-trip flight to Beirut.   
 
 “As Chief Pilot of the B777 at that time, I volunteered for the flight to show the rest of the pilots that we had thought this flight through, and it was important enough that we should and could proceed with it safely.”

Philippine Airlines Flight PR8680 departed from Manila early on that September morning, carrying the two sets of crew and representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Philippine media.  The Boeing 777-300ER carried 5,000 boxes of medical supplies and relief goods from the government and the Lucio Tan Group of Companies in its cavernous belly. 
 
This was truly a team effort. Captain Leo shared that prescribed health precautions were followed to protect the crew and passengers.  PAL's Security and Safety Department conducted a detailed and thorough briefing for the crew, following a comprehensive risk assessment to ensure that all bases were covered to safeguard crew and passenger safety.
 
Captain Leo is no stranger to such missions.  He had participated in another repatriation flight to Valetta, Malta to evacuate Filipinos fleeing the turmoil in Libya in 2014. The 2020 Beirut mission, however, was unique because there was an elevated concern over security.
 
The flight to Beirut was thankfully uneventful.  The 317 Filipinos embarked on the B777 at Beirut's Rafic Hariri International Airport and enjoyed their first taste of home on board Flight PR8681 for the 11-hour journey to their homeland.  Said Capt. Leo: “I felt so relieved and happy for them (Filipinos taking the flight) I could see the same emotion on their faces. The joy of being brought home and welcomed by our friendly crew was unforgettable.”
 
For the PAL crew, there was a feeling of relief and satisfaction. They had accomplished their mission and carried a sense of pride that they had provided urgent and welcome assistance to their countrymen in a time of great need.
 
According to Captain Leo, “As PAL employees, as the national carrier, we are always proud to serve and represent our country.”
 
With the pandemic raging all over the world, Capt. Leo and other PAL professionals had a number of other urgent assignments to work on.  PAL had to carry out dozens of other rescue flights to the Middle East, northern Africa, all across Asia and halfway around the globe to the U.S. East Coast and the Caribbean. For the latter areas, PAL deployed B777 and A350 aircraft to Miami and Barbados to carry home stranded 'kababayans' and other global citizens serving the cruise ship industry.  One Manila-Miami mission involved one of the longest flights operated by the Boeing 777, "covering more than 9,300 nautical miles and lasting more than 16 hours."
 
Capt. Leo shares that “Every PAL employee plays a part in our mission of nation-building. I believe every employee realizes that and gets a sense of it once he or she gets on board, so to speak, and sees both the big and small things that PAL does every day to forward the goals of the country.”
 
Over the years, many PAL personnel heeded the call of duty to rescue stranded countrymen and fly them home to safety.  Philippine Airlines led the repatriation of Filipinos from Libya, flying them out of Crete (Greece) in 2011 and from Malta in 2014. During the Gulf War in the 1990s, PAL operated one of the biggest airlift missions to fly home 10,000 Filipinos.
 
For Capt. Leo, who now heads the flag carrier's Operations Group, the Philippine Airlines tradition of service to the nation is part of its DNA.
 
"We are a carrier like no other," he said with pride.

According to Capt. Leo, “As Chief Pilot of the B777 at that time, I volunteered for the flight to show the rest of the pilots that we had thought this flight through and was important enough that we should and could proceed with it safely.”

“So with all these dire conditions, PAL had to ensure that our countrymen would be able to go home safely.” Adds Capt. Leo..

Captain Leo sees that every PAL employee plays a part in our mission of nation-building.