ISLAMABAD, Sept 4: Pakistan has had six air crashes, including two of foreign airlines, in the past six years, the defence ministry told the Senate during question hour on Tuesday.

The causes of some of the air crashes are still being investigated. The ministry attributed the remaining crashes to human factor.

On July 10, 2006, the Pakistan International Airlines lost its Fokker-27 that crashed soon after taking off from the Multan Airport, killing all 45 people onboard. The cause of the crash was said to be human error.

On July 20, 2010, an Airbus 321 crashed into Margalla Hills, killing 152 passengers and crew.

Defence Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said the causes were the controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) gadget and aircrew.

In July 2010, two air crashes took place.

Beechcraft 1900C of JS Air crashed in Karachi with 22 people onboard.

Sunway Airline’s freight flight crashed after taking off from the Karachi airport. Eight crew members onboard and four people on the ground perished when the plane carrying supplies hit the ground.

The causes of the two air crashes were still being investigated.

Aircrew is being held responsible for Hybrid Aviation Cessna crash in Lahore that killed both instructor and pilot.

The cause of Bhoja Air’s plane crash on April 29 this year while landing at the Islamabad airport is still being investigated. All 127 passengers and crew died.

Mr Qamar said the investigation reports contained safety recommendations to be implemented by airlines, operators and the Civil Aviation Authority to avoid recurrence of such accidents in the future. He told the house that all essential and mandatory equipment were installed on PIA fleet for operation.

“However, the B747s are not equipped with sophisticated navigation system and are unable to comply with arrival and departure procedures at Dubai and European airports,” he said. He explained how B737-300 fleet was simply equipped with single flight management system (FMS) restricting its operations to Far East destinations like Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.