No lessons learnt

Published April 22, 2012

IN less than two years, a second major air tragedy has struck Pakistan, raising the question of whether the Civil Aviation Authority and others concerned with air safety have learnt any lessons from the Airblue crash in July 2010. While our hearts go out to those who have lost their dear ones in the Bhoja Air crash near Islamabad airport on Friday, killing all passengers and crew, we, like this traumatised nation, seek answers to some important questions in the interest of the future of air travel in Pakistan. The answers may not lessen the tragedy nor comfort the bereaved families, yet they are needed because they are essential to the safety of millions of Pakistanis who travel by domestic airlines.

We must keep referring to the Airblue crash because it is very obvious that no lessons have been learnt, especially by the CAA, which is responsible for air safety. The Airblue crash report would never have been made public if the Peshawar High Court had not ordered its promulgation. Yet, besides the report becoming public property under judicial compulsion, there is no evidence, going by Friday’s tragedy, to believe that the government took corrective measures whose diligent enforcement would have ensured the safe landing of the Boeing 737-200 carrying 127 passengers and crew to Islamabad.

While PIA’s own record on safety checks is abysmal to say the least, the focus here is on private airlines. Bhoja Air started its passenger service in 1993 extending it to Dubai. However, because of its failure to meet its financial obligations to the government, the CAA suspended its flight operations seven years later. After it cleared its dues, the CAA authorised it to re-launch its passenger service. So Friday’s journey by the decades-old plane was an inaugural flight by a company that obviously believed in cutting costs to maximise profits. The CAA now owes it to the nation to explain whether it was satisfied with the safety measures followed by the airline. Like the Airblue jetliner, the Bhoja Air plane was approaching Islamabad airport in pouring rain, and probably had to struggle against wind shear. The control tower gave it permission to land, but the plane failed to reach the runway and crashed while trying to land. Was the pilot to blame? The contents of the black box including the exchanges between the pilot and control tower should help determine that.

At stake is the very future of air travel in Pakistan. Shortly before the Airblue tragedy, the Pakistan Airlines Pilots Association had protested that pilots in some airlines, including PIA, were being made to fly hours longer than what is acceptable internationally. Other experts say Pakistani runways have instrument-landing systems only at one end, and a pilot does not have the benefit of ILS if wind direction forces him to approach the runway from the other end. Also, there are allegations that there was political pressure for allowing Bhoja Air to resume passenger flights, even though the airline wasn’t observing international safety standards. All this calls for a thorough probe to determine what led to the fourth biggest air tragedy in Pakistan’s aviation history. The report must be made public and the people told what action was taken against those found guilty of negligence and what lessons the CAA has learnt to spare the nation future tragedies.

Finally, even when the new Islamabad airport begins operations, the present one will continue to be used. Since two air crashes have occurred here, it must be examined whether there is something in the Potohar plateau’s hilly terrain and atmospheric turbulence that militate against safe landing at what once was a small airport meant for Rawalpindi.

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