BLACK BOX OF AIRCRAFT RECOVERED AS PAKISTAN ORDERS INQUIRY INTO ACCIDENT
THE flight data recorder from the Pakistani airliner that crashed into a residential neighbourhood of Karachi was found, an official said last Saturday (23), as a survivor described jumping from the burning wreckage of the aircraft.
There were two survivors from onboard the aircraft, as the death toll touched 97. No fatalities were reported in the densely populated area of the city where the aircraft crash-landed last Friday (22).
Pakistan International Airlines flight PK 8303, an Airbus A320, was flying from Lahore to Karachi with 99 people on board when it went down in mid-afternoon while trying a second landing attempt. “The black box had been found late yesterday, we are handing it over to the inquiry board,” PIA spokesman Abdullah Khan said. He said that included both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
The airline’s chief executive, Arshad Malik, said last Friday the last message received from the pilot indicated there was a technical problem.
Another senior civil aviation official said it appeared the plane had been unable to lower its landing gear for the first approach.
Seconds before the crash, the pilot told air traffic controllers he had lost power from both engines, according to a recording posted on liveatc.net, a respected aviation monitoring website.
“After it hit and I regained consciousness, I saw fire everywhere and no one was visible,” passenger Mohammad Zubair, 24, said from his hospital bed in a video clip circulated on social media.
“The cries were everywhere and everybody was trying to survive. I undid my seat belt and I saw some light and tried to walk towards it. Then I jumped out.”
Zubair had suffered burns but was in a stable condition, a health ministry official said.
The airline named the other survivor as the president of the Bank of Punjab, Zafar Masud.
On board the aircraft were 91 passengers, six cabin crew and two pilots.
Several members of the armed forces were on the plane, the military said. Pakistan’s deadliest aviation accident in eight years came days after commercial flights resumed ahead of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr. Planes had been grounded during a two-month lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Prime minister Imran Khan announced soon after the crash that there would be an inquiry, and a four-member team was constituted last Friday night, according to a notification from the government’s aviation division. The team includes three members of the Aircraft Accident and Investigation Board and one from the Pakistan Air Force’s safety board. The team will issue a preliminary statement within a month, the notification says.
PIA’s chief executive Malik described the Airbus A320 as one of the safest planes. “Technically, operationally everything was in place,” he said, promising to work with investigators.
The pilot made a desperate mayday call after announcing “we have lost engines”, according to an audio recording confirmed by the airline.
Aviation safety experts say air crashes typically have multiple causes. Airbus said the jet first flew in 2004 and was fitted with engines built by CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and France’s Safran.
Aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the captain, Sajjad Gull, had been described by the airline as a senior A320 pilot with extensive flight experience.
“The pilot did his best to bring the plane to the runway and tried hard to contain damages,” Khan said last Saturday.
“There will be fair inquiry to put forth facts immediately before the public and parliament.”
The plane first entered service in 2004 and was acquired by PIA a decade later, Airbus said in a statement. (Agencies)