Plane crash in Margalla Hills

Plane crash in Margalla Hills

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.

Dawn.com invites its readers to share whatever information and/or photographs you may have pertaining to today’s passenger plane crash.

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175 Responses to “Plane crash in Margalla Hills”

  1. Noor says:

    May Allah bless them all, I traveled with the same crew members of the flight in 2009 from Abu Dhabi to Lahore…and remember them.

  2. Malik Akif says:

    Its more than 24 hours. I still feel the pain.

    Akif

  3. Saradindu Basu says:

    Feeling very very sad. May GOD give strength to near and dear ones of the lost to withstand the tragedy.
    Salute to persons engaged in the relief work.

  4. Anjum Parwej says:

    May Allah rest their soul in peace. My condolence to all brieved family members. May Allah give them strength to bear the loss.

    Anjum Parwej
    India

  5. Rafiq says:

    Although anticipated from them, however the statements from Interior / Information ministry were also shocking, in parallel with major shock of the crash itself.

  6. Naeem Mohammad says:

    When a open yahoo at home first see plane crash news i could not understand i think that it is old news but when i read it i was in shock, may ALLAH grant patience all those people who lost their beloved and being a human i can feel feelings of that concern whose beloved disappear but we beleive in ALLAH that all must in heaven.

  7. A very unfortunate and tragic accident! May God bless their souls rest in peace. Amin

  8. Naeem says:

    My prayers for everyone in Pakistan, who suffers a loss (of life or whatever), be it a traffic accident, an airplane crash, a train accident, a terrorist attack or simply a murder by a criminal. Shocks are bad as they don’t give us time to be ready. This event is very shocking and perhaps is a reminder for all of us that death can catch us any time and we must live our lives as per the guidelines of Allah, to whom we have to return.

    I fully agree with Dr. Amir Khan’s above comments and would pray for the deceased and for the living that they become better Muslims than before.

  9. Asad says:

    What if the pilot would have landed on F-9 park. Huge land and few km away from Margalla hills.

    Would have been a crash landing but still we could have hoped for less casualities.

    Anyway the pilot knows the best and i believe they do their best for a safe journey.

    May Allah bless all the souls and my deepest sympathy for those family and friends whose lost their loved ones in this catostrophic accident

  10. Zehra says:

    I hope & pray that ALLAH give patience to all members of the victims. It is a very big loss and i wish such accidents are not repeated ever ever again.

  11. Haider says:

    I’m strongly convinced that the pilot had been confused about the runway.. he thought of 7th, 8th, 9th avenue as the airport runway due to poor/partial visibility on 28th july morning. That’s why he had the last words: “we can see the runway. .. ” when warned by the control tower.. just a couple of minutes earlier than the crash.. He was actually trying to turn before proceeding for the landing on any of these roads

    • tanveer says:

      I totally agree with you. The pilot got confused bcoz of poor weather conditions.

      • Zubair says:

        I personally knew Captain Pervez Iqbal Chaudry. I lived at his house for an year, he was an extremely sharp and brilliant guy. He was always able to beat me and his son (who was my engineering university classmate) in puzzle solving or simple mathematical computations. Also he was an extremely energetic person even in his late fifties … he will go to bed at 2am and still be able to say Fajar prayer at the mosque. So I am really shocked, saddened and bemused by this event. Something had to go seriously wrong for him to make this mistake.

  12. Raj Sarma says:

    My heart felt condolences to the Pakistani nation, and in particular to the families and friends of the victims of this crash.

    God bless those who lost their lives in the accident.

    Raj

  13. Muhammad Awais Arshad says:

    May Allah bless them all..Aameen

  14. Shahidullah says:

    We all pray to Allah to grant mental strength for our fellow brethren in Pakistan to bear this great loss of 152 human lives and property. May Allah help us all.

  15. Fauzia Qureshi says:

    I am deeply saddened and devastated. My prayers for the family and friends of the passengers.
    May Allah (SWT) grant them hightest place in Janna’h.

  16. Syed Tariq says:

    May Allah grant them all the highest ranks in Janna.
    May Allah give strength and courage to all the immediate and extended families to survive these painful moments.
    May Allah to give us strength to stay on the path of just and the fact that one day we all have to meet him.

  17. Arshad Kazmi Los Angeles says:

    Even up against tough weather and tight schedules, pilots are supposed to have the last word on when, where and how to land their aircraft. Pressures on pilots to keep government and VIP passengers on schedule can sometimes override safety considerations.

    • Usman Chattha says:

      Its true that sometimes such pressures do exist but kindly do not make it a phobia as nothing of such kind happened in the present case.

      • Arshad Kazmi Los Angeles says:

        Usman Chattha Sahab,

        My condolences to the families and friends of the victims of this crash.

        What I wrote was a statement, not a judgement. Your acceptence “some time such pressure do exit”
        should be debated on TV channels so a uniform policy should be made for all government and private owned airlines. Often stress in the cockpit is only recognized in terms of cognitive stresses, such as high mental work load, caused by piloting modern transport aircraft in congested airspace. Any changes in personal circumstances such as divorce, marital separation, difficult family affairs, financial difficulties, and not getting proper night rest due to routine load shedding and bombardment of tv coverage of suicide bombing and human body parts scattered around the tragic scene can be a source of Life stress and can form part of any pilots emotional “carry on baggage. Admitting to suffering from stress is often viewed by peers and society at large as an admission of weakness or failure.
        Investigations conducted that Capt Pervaiz Iqbal Chaudhry had been grounded about two months back and was admitted to the Aga Khan Hospital. He had uncontrollable diabetes, hypertension and cardiac problems. He was a very religious man and it could be possible that he did not rest well before the flight because of Shab-e-Barat.President of Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (PALPA), Captain Sohail Baloch on Wednesday said Margalla Hills plane crash may be attributed to pilot’s fatigue.
        Air Blue airline had been operating four out of its fleet of six A320 family aircraft, due to financial constraints the private airline was cannibalising two of the grounded aircraft for spare parts to keep the other four flying.
        Full load of 146 passenger with net revenue of 29 laks Karachi Islamabad one way along with VIP passengers (Two Americans one Australian) and determine to land to avoid additional financial loss in low visibility with non working TAWS, or GPWS are commercial pressures to precipitate an aircraft accident.

        Arshad Kazmi ex AirTransport Analyst UPS Los Angeles California USA

        • khalid latif says:

          Dear Arshad,
          Indeed, it was the day when every thing seemed to stop. Those who lost their lives may rest in peace and I pray that their families, relatives and friends are able to recover from this grief.

          The Captain may be experienced as I can read every where. But I am afraid, the accident occurred because he ended up in a ‘no fly zone’ (Islamabad/Margalla). The most disturbing thing is,

          1. Once he commenced a ‘circle to land’ procedure and lost the runway, why did he not switch to the ground surveillance radar and take help for another positioning for an approach on RW 1 2?

          2. Was he familiar with the Islamabad Airfield surrounding?
          3. Did he have the missed approach procedure on his finger tips.
          4. Being a very senior Captain of large jets, he should have been flying with the Auto pilot to allow him maximum visual scanning. You will agree that hand flying a large jet liner; particularly at lower speeds and altitude is not easy.

          No matter what technical fault is detected in the investigation and it does not matter what was the visibility and cloud base. We will come back to the same question again; why did he end up in the hills, so far away from the runway. Why did he not contact the radar and commence an immediate climb. Unfortunately, these are the facts which will overshadow all other findings in the investigation.

          Regards,

          Khalid

          • Arshad Kazmi Los Angeles says:

            Wing commander (Rtd) Zaffar Iqbal sums it up eloquently.

            “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 (Full load of 146 passenger with net revenue of 29 laks Karachi Islamabad one way along with VIP passengers)
            The role of associations in such conditions is to support the crew in making safe decisions and thus enhance safe flying conditions”

  18. Plane Crash Condolence

    Airblue passenger jet crash into the Margalla hills on Wednesday morning, killing all 152 passengers on board, including five children, two infants among them, and 29 women, is a heart wrenching incident.

    We, the NUST students, are deeply saddened over the tragic incident of plane crash. We pray to the Almighty Allah that He may grant courage and fortitude to the members of the bereaved families to bear this irreparable loss and may souls of those dead in the incident rest in eternal peace.
    Islamabad

  19. kalim Ahmed Riaz says:

    Please pray for all those who victims of the Flight. May God Bless to all……

  20. Ateeq Khaliq says:

    Inna Lilla Hey Wa Inna Ilaihay Rajaoon

    I pray Allah The almighty to grant families of the victims the patience and solace to bear the losses.Although no words can really help to ease the losses which your country bears now , just know that the victims family are very close in every thought and prayer.Its almost an Mangalore air crash 2 for me.

  21. Jamil says:

    May Almighly Allah rest them all in eternal peace and give patience to their bereaved families

  22. Samir says:

    IN-ALLAH-WA-IN-E-ALEHO-RAJEOON

    MAY ALLAH BLESS THESE SHAHEEDS SOULS IN PEACE AMEEN:)

  23. Aqeel Ahmed says:

    We certainly can not touch the depth of tragedy happened to victim’s families but assure to share your tears.

  24. Khan says:

    Listen guys, its hard for me to comment what exactly happened. Although, Margallah hills are about 15 to 20 miles from Air port. BTW, why an air plane is comming towards the Margallah hills on low altitude to land on the airport which is all the way to the south of the city (Opposite direction). Most likely, it sounds like a human error (Navigation system) which forced the crew to lower the engine power and reduce the altitude in wrong direction. May be, when they realized the mistake, it was too late and air plane went out of control to recover. At the emergency time, any thing could go wrong with the air plane because air plane needs power, distance and altitude to recover from any drastic mishap. Again, its just a theory on my part. Black box might reveal some information about the last minute conversation in the cockpit. Also, different alarms might also be helpful in final conclusion of the accident. Otherwise, may God bless all the souls.

  25. Paatchu says:

    It’s really a hurting news..My hearty condolences..
    We also faced the same tragedy few months ago in South India!!..

    Sanal from India

    • Zafar Iqbal Wg cdr says:

      I thank you on all Pakistanis’ behalf for sharing our vast grief.

      thank you again

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