Plane crash raises questions on pilot’s ‘bizarre’ landing attempt
The Airbus engines grazed the runway at more than normal landing speed
While Pakistani politicians are busy hurling abuses at one another for poor response to PIA plane crash on May 22, investigators are curious to find out answers to pilot’s bizarre attempt to land the Airbus SE A320 on its belly defying all the safety system.
Initial investigations revealed that the engines of the ill-fated PIA plane were damaged as they touched the runway during the pilot’s first attempt to land the aircraft as the landing gear did not open.
The PIA flight PK-8303 later crashed into a residential area of Model Colony just short of runway during its second attempt to land. Some 97 of 99 passengers including the cabin crew members were killed in the tragic crash.
A lot of theories and possibilities leading to the crash have emerged. Some say it was pilot’s mistake, while others raised questions to the poor maintenance of the aircraft.
Abrupt descent
Nevertheless, one thing is sure that Airbus SE A320 tried to land without opening the landing gear and its engines grazed the runway at a speed of 327 KPH. However, a specialised team is still investigating the accident to find out the cause of the crash.
The experts raised questions about how the crew could touch down without landing gear when their sophisticated jetliner was bristling with equipment to prevent pilots from doing just that.
After an abrupt descent that had unnerved air traffic controllers, the pilots of the PIA jet briefly put the aircraft on the runway without the landing gear, grinding along on its two engines at a speed of more than 327 km/h, according to preliminary data, reported Bloomberg.
The pilots aborted the landing attempt, climbing back into the sky, but reported shortly afterward that they had lost power. The Airbus SE A320 apparently glided into a neighbourhood as pilots were attempting to return to the same runway, killing 97 of 99 people aboard.
‘Unbelievable’
“It is unbelievable to me that an airline crew on a jet like an Airbus, with all the warning systems, would attempt to land the plane without the gear extended,” said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant who formerly flew the A320 as a US airline pilot.
In addition to checklists designed to make sure pilots don’t attempt to touch down without the landing gear, the jetliner has multiple warning systems designed to alert crews if they somehow forget or the gear are not working.
It’s not yet clear why the two jet engines quit after functioning well enough for about two minutes to lift them about 3,000 feet (915 metres) above the runway. Engines have become so reliable that losing two at the same time is possible only because of some common factor, such as damage from hitting a runway or a problem with the fuel supply.
Regardless, the bizarre landing attempt — which was carried out without any indication from the crew that they had an emergency during their initial descent — either triggered the accident or was a catalyst that worsened the situation, according to Cox and others who have studied crashes. A Pakistan International spokesperson declined to comment on “incomplete information.”