Comments on: Plane crash in Margalla Hills

By: Zafar Iqbal Wg cdr

Zafar Iqbal Wg cdr — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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

thank you again

By: Zafar Iqbal Wg cdr

Zafar Iqbal Wg cdr — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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

By: Wg Cdr zafar Iqbal

Wg Cdr zafar Iqbal — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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

By: Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr

Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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 .

By: Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr

Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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

By: Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr

Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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.

By: Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr

Zafar Iqbal Wg Cdr — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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.

By: Asma

Asma — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

Where is the black box?? where is the final report ??

By: Zafari Syed

Zafari Syed — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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.

By: Capt (retd) Syed Mohammad Husain

Capt (retd) Syed Mohammad Husain — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 00:00:00 +0000

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.