An Air Blue passenger plane carrying 152 people crashed in Islamabad’s Margalla Hills on Wednesday morning. Although rescue teams have been dispatched to the site of the crash, due to the hilly terrain, teams travelling by road are having difficulty reaching the area.
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It is not correct that the power is minimum on the landing approach. Actually it is around 80 to 84% RPM. This is so coz the jet engines take time to spool up and come on full power but if you are flyiny at 80% or so the power comes up fairly quickly.
The aircraft maintains 800 fet on an approach lik this which is called CIRCLE TO LAND after having carried out the ILS. IT is now the pilot’s responsibility to maintain contact with the runway visually,make a short approach and land.
h The pilot got stuck in hthe cloudt and rainy weather losing contact with the runway. His error was to press on with the approach. He should have opened full power the moment he lost sight of the runwat, turned left climbing to 9500 feet .
Where is the black box?? where is the final report ??
Normally it takes anywhere between three to four wekks to decode…then another month or so for the CAA to merge the findings with the facts on ground. reconstruct the whole scenario. write its report ans submit to the ministry. Another 15-20 days up the ladder. The entire process may take 2 1/2 months or so. The report should be out mid October, I guess.
An air accident is normally a combination of many factors like human error, airtraffic mistakes, faulty procedures and technical faults. Since most of the above people are high profile people with high stakes who have a lot of influnce on the inquiry report, the scapegoat is generally the Pilot who is not there defend himself. Companies like Boeing, Airbus etc make sure that they are not blamed. Even airliners like Emirates, Etihad, British Airways etc make sure that their routine incidents are not even reported in press. So, Let us pray that, we get an honest report about Air Blue accident. As mentioned by Zafar Iqbal, factors like faulty wind measuring equipment and faulty Air traffic procedures at Islamabad are considered by the inquiry committee.
The tragic Air Blue accident at Margalla Hills has highlighted the difficulties which the pilots face at Islamabad airport. The peculiar and hostile terrain and weather conditions at Islamabad coupled with air traffic deficiencies make it an awesome experience for the pilots. The numerous No Flying Zones around Islamabad airport which have not been updated with time, further adds to the problems of operating crew.
Air crafts at Islamabad airport are normally landed on Runway 30 which is the main instrument runway and has adequate landing facilities. Runway 12 which has approach close to the Margalla hills and where the Airblue was making approach is used when runway 30 is not suitable for landing due unfavorable winds conditions. Aircrafts are made to make visual approach north of the runway which is hilly area although visual approaches can be made from southern side which is comparatively plain area. This requires some efforts and imitative by air traffic control and CAA authorities and is unfortunately considered only after some mishap.
The main reason for aircrafts landing on runway 1 2 is unfavorable wind conditions and most of the pilots specially international carriers are reluctant to use runway 12. The situation looks even alarming when it has been reported by several pilots that air traffic control at Islamabad has a faulty wind measuring system. As a matter of fact, the wind measuring system is located in control tower which is more than one kilometer away from aircrafts touchdown point. The airliner which landed minutes after ill fated Airblue aircraft on runway 30 did not report any excess wind which could be the reason for air traffic control using runway 12 for landing.
It has also been reported to the CAA authorities that some of the airfields especially in remote areas do not have qualified controllers. As per CAA and International Civil Aviation Authority rules, every controller should be qualified with appropriate license. The inquiry committee is requested to consider these deficiencies in air traffic control while inquiring the reasons for ill fated accident.
The absence of any Pilots Association in our private airlines also contribute towards un safe flying conditions when the Pilots are under pressure to reach destinations even in bad weather due to management backlash. The role of associations in such conditions is to support the crew in making safe decisions and thus enhance safe flying conditions.
Air Blue trgedy, like many such air disasters will pass into the chroncles. The supposedly compitentant investigation authority (a part of the Civil Aviation Authority) will do what they have been doing and the conciensios intelligentia will continue geting what they have been getting; NOTHING.
Wg.Cdr. Zafar Iqbal has apptopriately pointed out very valid points. But thats not all.Hazards and the pitfalls are bit too many. Dedicated, devoted and daring research into these pionts would be huge task, one needs to have wisdom vision and veroisty (the combination is rarely found). Surface wind (more accurately speaking Tail / Head / Corss wind Factors) is critical to the decision of which Runway to use. The SURFACE wind is the wind blowing about 40 feet above the controle tower. controle towers are the tallest building around an airport and usually about 3 KM away from the Runway touch down zone. This glaring hazrd has gone unnoticed along with many more for decades. It is not the case at Islamabasd only; it is at Karachi, Lahoreand other airports.
More on many other pints, the next time.
ATC cannot be faulted if the aircraft strays from the confines of the airport area (traffic circuit) for whatever reason and if the wind does not support landing on the instrument runway, 30, because of the wind direction and speed, then this is the best alternative, 12, or you divert to lahore, Karachi.
In a circling approach, the aircraft has to remain within 11/2 to 2 miles from the centre of the runway while manouvering for landing to facilitate keeping the runway threshold always in sight as the visibility may be poor. The bank angle has to be maintained along with a watch on airspeed and terrain which is just 500 feet below and one has to remain clear of clouds.
For this reason the non-flying pilot is a big help as he/she monitors the above mentioned parameters while the pilot flying does the job. This is a fly-by-wire aircraft in which the computer(Flight Management System) has to be programmed for a lot of flying functions and accidents have occurred in the past due to no fault of the pilot, but the aircraft not responding to the inputs(commands to the computer) to the FMS. While it is true that this a challenging exercise since the ground is so close, it is practiced lawfully wherever permitted.
For the people who r criticizing the pilot without knowing the actual facts. First of all there are a number of things associated with the aircraft and if some crash takes place more or less all of the things r responsible for that. pilot pervaiz was not mad that he started doing mistakes at the time when he was just 10 minutes away from the airport. Dont u know that there is an air traffic controller and a redar controller who r the guiders of the pilot. May be the air traffic controller guided the pilot wrong. If the airline was so true then why dont they bring that man who was guiding flight 202 ED on media. Why they are taking ages to reveal wat was in he black box. If the airline and the government is honest enough they should immediately on air a proper special programme in which the public can hear the original voice recording of the pilot and air traffic controller and good analysts should be there to explain the technical aspects of the conversation to the public. We can never trust wat has actually happened to flight 202 unless we listen the recordings ourselves because these corrupt people will surely put all of the blame on the pilot who is no more to defend himself and hide the actual facts. So do not pass useless comments until u r confident enough that the information u got is 100 PERCENT TRUE, DONT MAKE GUESSES.
1. kindly see my views on Aaj Tv with Nadeem malik on 28 july. I have explained with a chart what seems to have happened.
2. the controller will be thoroughly investigated by the CAA team;as willbe the radar controller. And if these fellows are brought on tv ,our media will begin a discussion and may force the hand of the investigators.
3. The inquiry will take at least 2-3 months…till mid-Oct or so.
4. According to my view the pilot saw the runway while approaching from Runway 30 end( Lahore/Kahuta side),then made a visual circling approach to land from 12 end(Murree road side). During this approach (a perfectly legay / authorized procedure) it is the pilot,s responsibility to keep the runway in sight visually. I guess due to heavy rain and clouds coming between the plane and the runway, he lost sight of the runway. hoping that it would be a small clouk bank only and soon he would be able to turn around and land…since he has just seen the runway and is very familiar with the surroundings he continued the approach instead of discontinuig to follow the “missed approach” procedure ie begin climbing left hand at to 9500 feet. The plane veered of course only 20 degrees or so to the right and ate up the short distance to the hills in 1 minute or so. due clouds Marghallas were not visible till the plane was so close that it,s attempt to open power and climb away safely did not bear fruit. Human factor,combined with bad weather resulting in non-adherence to written procedures. May Allah be with us in these difficult times
Incident was tragic May Allah give rest and courage to bear this irreparable loss total chaos very much depressed
well, the incident is really tragic… this is a real big loss……….. hundreds of families are suffered n in deep pain .
its passed we cannot bring the souls back:( the only thing that we can expect from the government is to assure the families that the “true” investigation will take place n its results will be shown to the public.
we all want to know what happened to them n why this incident took place, so many questions are being asked but these are speculations we need some solid proofs.
the government should take the matter seriously so that for next time such accidents can be prevented.
all are prayers with the families who have lost their loved ones…. may ALLAH help them them to cope up with this tragedy n may the souls always rest in peace. ( ammmeeenn)
These days the basic course given to the Accident investigatotrs is
1) Find the causes of the accident
2) suggest steps to avoid recuurence of such events.
May the authorities do a good job and may Allah save us from such tragedies.
I pray for those who lost their life in this horrible accident. May Allah subhanah forgive them and keep them in peace.
I am amazed that Pakistan don’t have any kind of rescue to face such kind of tragedies.,,,,,, Or may be all the grants and aids goes in the pockets of politicians and other agencies who are responsible to provide such kind of support.
I was hearing Dr. Shahid Maqsood live commentary, saying its in the middle of Islamabad, and there is no rescue WOW; After few hours i saw on live, Our prime minister with his team having a recreational ride on the Helicopter, and looking outside down from the window as it is some kind of tamashah is taking place and he does not want to miss any moment of that. Its a great disappointment for the nation rather its appropriate to say its a shame.
We deeply regret the loss of our cousins Ali Asger Amreli ,Rashida and Murtaza in the air crash.May ther souls rest in peace and find place in heaven and parents and family find peace.
Nice write up it. it could be a bit longer though
it is hard to explain my feelings
. It feels that i have lost my own friends , brothers and sisters …. MAY there soul rest in peace and i offered my condolence to all those , who have lost their loved ones …. may GOD give them strength and power to face this unexplainable circumstances 
Indeed this is a horrible tragidy that should have been avoided by installation of equipment that is readily available in the US to prevent such tragidies. Sometimes I wish those who have the authority of makeing such decisions should lose their loved ones in such a tragidy so the can understand the pain that others have to go through who have lost loved ones.
I lost a great friend, Gulam Abbas. I have not seen him in almost three years but he stayed with me when he came to the United States. I cherish the gifts the brought us and till today they hang on the wall.
May Allah, rest the souls of those who perished in this accident in a wonderful place in Heaven.
Anum Hafeez
Yes the Govt and CAA need to install better equipment that is routinely available elsewhere.
ILS 1 is a big deal here which needs to be upgraded,better controller training and crew resource management are needed.
Sharing your grief..and praying for the departed souls.
Zafar iqbal
Dear readers
Whatever the reason is behind the air plane crash, CAA must be stricter to follow up aviation rules and regulation .
Government of Pakistan should have independent watch organs who check air planes technical condition, pilots recent flying hours so we are assured that no tired pilot flies in the skies of Pakistan.
Maybe many of dawn readers remember that for 2-3 years ago European union banned PIA flights from flying to Europe, due to poor technical condition of PIA planes according to EU.
PIA had to lease new plaes followed up by buying new planes before they again were allowed to fly to EU. The old Boeing 747 planes had flied for 40 years and PIA didn’t have any plans to change them.
I am glad EU forced PIA to by new planes, if PIA wasn’t forced to buy new planes then management in PIA would have eaten up also plane money in corruption.
Plane crash incident in Margalla hills have sadden all Pakistanis, in Pakistan or abroad. Abroad Pakistanis have followed this news with eagles eye cause they fly allot to Pakistan and they are very concerned by air plane security in Pakistan.
PIA is the most expensive company to fly with, we expect they the have modern and functional equipment, but it looks like fat people with bid stomachs swallows PIA budget.
Adnan
The accident aircraft was not a PIA airliner and for information of all concerned with aviation, PIA ranks twenty eight among world airlines in terms of revenue earned, and performance in year 2010. This ranking is above such solid carriers as Air Canada, American Airlines and Delta Airlines.
I fully agree with you.
People are too quick to blame PIA, or for that matter anything Pakistani.
Another point, EU never forced PIA to buy newer planes. The fleet is still the same. Both 777 and ATR42 were inducted before the EU ban. If funds had permitted or Govt had come to rescue, the third in line, B737-300s, would have been replaced by now. And A320,the type that crashed had an equal chance to replace them. The ban did not stem basically from any Fleet or other issues that endangered the safety of passengers but largely because of unprofessional approaches made by the then top brass in handling their complaints and observations.
Among other things, the airline had gone in the red because of things beyond its control and remains so because the Govt did not come to its rescue in time and it has had to borrow at very high rate from the market to survive and is now paying its price. As such even this revenue is now not enough for its survival, let alone the growth.
Air India was in the same boat but their Govt has manged to inject close to IR 100Bn under an aggressive plan to revive it. This would not only wipe out their debts but also help them buy a new aircraft to modernize its fleet.
Lets see when we wake up.
Please understand, I am not saying that their conduct has always remained blameless, nor am against any shake-up or even its privatization if it would help it survive better, but only against the inaction that continues since Musharraf’s government.
Captain Pervaiz Iqbal Chaudhary was an able and senior ex-PIA B747 (last) pilot who after attaining age 60 had transferred to Airblue. In terms of experience he had spent his lifetime flying safely, and not just to Islamabad, but the world over wherever PIA had a destination.
In such a competitive environment, I never heard anything derogatory about his professional capabilities, and this is no mean feat.
I cannot remark on this accident which is still under investigation, but flying such a sophisticated fly by wire aircraft could also have technical implications, meaning the aircraft may not have responded to desired inputs by the pilot at the appropriate time. This has happened earlier in other mishaps, most notably with a Gulf Airline a few years back. It is a sad state of affairs to bid goodbye to a colleague long distance.
The question is not whether the captain strayed off path, that is quite evident. The question is why did a pilot with more commercial flying experience than any other pilot in the country, someone who knew the area like the back of his hand, ended up where he did.
Knowing him the way I did, he would never have chanced his luck. If he felt the atmospheric conditions were adverse he would have aborted attempts to land. He wouldn’t have fasted (and he wasn’t) if he was flying, something he did during Ramadan each year.
Lets all pray for the souls of those who perished in this tragedy and also lets say a prayer for all those whose lives have been affected by this terrible tragedy.
I can also confirm that Captain Chaudhry was never grounded or hospitalized for diabetes or hypertension etc.
My deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this crash. It really hurts to see and listen for each victim has their own story….a story of greif which is all what is left now…May Allah Forgive them all. And it is a sign which we all should heed, Allah is there and we all have to return to him…nothing matters in front of him…no matter how much money you have…people you leave behind…life end in just a second no matter what you are…
my condolences to the families and friends of the victims of thi crash -may Allah bless them all / /the news said that the weather was bad in Islam abad ,and i say why the control tower do not divert the flight to another air port like the flight of PIA WHICH DIVERTED TO LAHORE 30 minutes before the crash – -thanks
Crash may occur due to following factors in my humble view, Pilot fatigue+Bad weather+Mountainous region+no landing allowed+poor airspace control.
The Trained experienced pilot eye is worth billon rupees in such scanario when in poor weather most instrument may loose accuracy in difficult terrain.
Also i think chaotic crises management every one taking charge of the situation. it should be principal authority like CAA, railways etc., requesting help from all other authorities available at the district or national level.
Best Regards.
This is one of the incidents that give me shivers every time I think about it. A friend and classmate died in this incident. May Allah forgive him and give him highest of the ranks. What is more killing is that he became a father of a baby girl just 10 days back
This is certainly a wakeup call. How can we forget Allah so badly that we keep on doing bad deeds? I feel scared when I think how those people would have felt when the plane crashed on the hills. What must have crossed their minds? How terrible the entire experience must have been. I pray with all my heart for all those who died. For their betterment in the afterlife and May Allah have mercy on them and on us.
Death is our fate,how one dies and where is different matter.shakespeare has said,”coward dies many times before his death valliant never tastes it but ones”-julius caesar.
Simply because, like God, some people don’t think in it.
You should list somewhere an about/biography of yourself so people can realize the point of view you have when you write this.
Why Pilot was allowed to fly an aeroplane?
I mean the weather conditions were bad.
do you mean to say that planes never take off, fly or land in rain? planes fly in worse conditions. secondly it wastn’t even raining hard. it was more of a drizzle so i believe we cannot blame the weather conditions for the crash. there have got to be other reasons.
And other reasons we would never know. The government spokesmen started with a lie and polluted everything. Nobody would believe government and ailrline anymore. The rescuers had no equipment to extinguish fire and save some evidence. Decoding black box would take long time, meanwhile people will forget.
May Allah bless them all.
A friend of mine, Ali Asghar Amreli, his elder sister and her 24 year old son were killed. They were going to Islamabad for the boy’s engagement. My friend’s parents are old and still alive. It is hard to imagine their pain; they just lost their son, their daughter and their grandson on the same day. He leaves behind his wife, three young children, another brother and another sister.
In an instant, hapiness & hopes were turned in to unimaginable, devastating tragedy that will last a lifetime. May god help those left behind to mourn.
its a very bad incident, i was very shocked when I heard this news. Two of my friends died in this crash….1 was of my office and another one was my cousin they both were the only sons without any siblings…..so I am very hurt and may Allah rest their soul in peace and patience to their family. Ameen Suma Ameen.
We all share your grief. Loss of people known to you is always very hard to bear.
Inquiries are inquiries but they cannot bring one’s friends back.
And a good friend is a Gift of God.
May Allah be with you.
Ameen