Manila, Feb. 19 -- The maneuvers conducted by the Chinese Harbin Z-9 helicopter against a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) 208B Grand Caravan EX aircraft were "unsafe and extremely dangerous", the Philippine Air Force (PAF) said Wednesday.

"Definitely it's a dangerous maneuver.. as a helicopter pilot myself, and as I saw from the video, I can say that the helicopter went dangerously near, risking the lives of those onboard both aircraft," PAF spokesperson Col. Ma Consuelo Castillo said in a message to the Philippine News Agency, when asked about the Feb. 18 incident which occurred while the Philippine aircraft was on a routine maritime domain awareness flight at the Bajo de Masinloc.

Castillo said if the PLAN helicopter ...