Archie King was flying home to celebrate son’s birthday

Motel magnate Archimedes “Archie” King was flying home to his son when the helicopter he was on, together with seven other people, crashed on the slope of Mount Maculot in Cuenca, Batangas, last Sunday.

“He (Archie) was bent on staying on board his yacht and party some more but changed his mind at noon and decided to fly back to Manila to spend time

with his son Atticus who was celebrating his birthday,” a relative of Ricco Ocampo said, as narrated to her by the couple.

On that fateful Sunday, King was with his friends – Standard Insurance CEO Patricia Echauz Chilip, hotelier and Dunlop tires distributor Chris Chilip, high fashion bag designer and former model Tina Maristela Ocampo and husband fashion retailer Ricco Ocampo, Tattler Philippines editor-in-chief Anton San Diego – and wife, the former Lingling Urrutia, partying aboard his yacht in Puerto Galera.

It was learned that King and his son Atticus had a slight misunderstanding. But last Sunday, after receiving a call from his younger son Ian who reminded him about Atticus’ birthday, King decided at noon to fly back to Manila.

“Dad, it’s the birthday of Atticus. Are you coming home?” Ian reportedly asked his father. King reportedly answered: “Well, tough luck. I am stranded here (Puerto Galera).”

King was quoted as telling his friends: “We don’t need to go back to Manila because this yacht has everything. The guests reportedly fancied the idea of staying on until King decided otherwise.

Strange photo Before taking off, they had a group photo taken by Ricco Ocampo using his cell phone camera.

“When they reviewed the photographs on Ricco’s phone, strangely we found out that Archie was not in the frame at all,” said one of those who was with King.

A cursory look at all the photographs on the phone uncannily did not have King in any of the shots.

After taking off, the passengers narrated: “We looked down and saw six motorized boats full of divers. King, who was always conscious about safety, did not leave anything to chance and made sure that there were divers below who would be able to rescue them in case of a crash.

As the Agusta 109E helicopter ascended, they noticed that the clouds became thicker and visibility decreased dramatically. The next time they looked out the window, they were surprised to see leaves and trees.

All of a sudden, the helicopter nosedived, two loud thuds were heard, and the chopper shattered as it hit solid ground.

Pilot saved them

The passengers who survived credited Capt. Felicisimo Taborlupa for saving them because as the helicopter nosedived, he had the presence of mind to turn off the engine. This prevented the helicopter from bursting into flames upon impact. Taborlupa was thrown out of the helicopter and died on the spot. King was slumped over with the dashboard pinning down the lower half of his body.

They scampered to look for their phones to make an emergency call. They finally saw Patricia Chilip’s phone and called Tootsie, the wife of Sen. Edgardo “Sonny” Angara.

“They started screaming. Tina (Ocampo) was hysterical. Help came after that.

San Diego and Tina walked out of the crash site with a still unidentified person guiding them. Ricco stayed behind as he could not walk with a bone protruding from his ankle,” the witness said.

“Anton (San Diego) and Tina walked down to a barrio and asked for help. Later, a group of men went up Mt. Maculot to rescue the others. They reached the local hospital carrying King on a plank of plywood. Unfortunately, by the time they reached the hospital, King had already died.”

The rescue team observed that King was not bleeding at all and did not look injured from the outside. Doctors later

said his injuries were internal.

No flight plan

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said Taborlupa failed to provide a flight plan before taking off from Puerto Galera.

CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio yesterday said Taborlupa did not inform them about their flight home.

“Regulations require pilots to provide the CAAP a flight plan so that it can monitor its movement. In cases of emergency, the CAAP will know where to look,” Apolonio said.

Apolonio said the helicopter flew despite the CAAP’s bulletin warning on small aircraft not to fly because of bad weather brought about by tropical storm “Egay.”

CAAP investigators are already on the site interviewing residents, according to Apolonio.

“The PNP (Philippine National Police) has already secured the site,” he said. (With a report from Kris Bayos)