Airbus experts visit PIA plane crash site in Karachi as probe opens
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Airbus experts on Tuesday initiated a probe into last week's plane crash that killed 97 people when a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Airbus A-320 went down in a crowded neighbourhood near Karachi airport.
Initial reports suggest the jet crashed after an apparent engine failure.
Aviation authorities said on Tuesday they have shared their initial findings with the visiting 11-member team from the European plane maker.
The Airbus experts and engineers also visited the crash site of flight PK-8303, where they were given a briefing by officials of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board, Radio Pakistan reported.
Related: Question mark over body constituted to probe PIA crash
"We are providing all possible assistance to the technical experts of Airbus," said Abdul Hafeez, a spokesperson for PIA.
Only two people on board survived the crash, including Zafar Masood, a bank executive.
The flight took off from Lahore and crashed on Friday while trying to land at Jinnah International Airport.
The plane made failed attempts to land at the Karachi airport before the crash. Authorities found the plane's black box and have been guarding the crash site to facilitate the probe.
On the ground, 18 homes were damaged but no one was killed, mainly because the local residents were gathered at nearby mosques at the time, officials had said. Eight people on the ground were injured.
So far, authorities have handed over 41 bodies to their families, Hafeez said, adding that DNA tests were underway to identify the remains of the other victims.
The plane last received a government check last November. PIA's chief engineer signed a separate certificate on April 28, confirming all maintenance had been conducted. -Airbus has said the two-engine plane had logged 47,100 flight hours and 25,860 flights as of last Friday.
The crash took place days after the government allowed resumption of domestic flights ahead of Eidul Fitr. Many of the passengers aboard the flight were families returning home for the holiday.
Pakistan has been in a countrywide partial lockdown since mid-March because of the coronavirus, and when flights resumed last week, every other seat was left vacant to ensure social distancing.
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Comments (70) Closed
May 26, 2020 06:40pm
What will they do now?
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May 26, 2020 06:45pm
Both Engines failure after they struck the runway on an earlier attempt to land? Obviously due to some damage caused to the engines that developed into failure a few minutes later.
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May 26, 2020 06:53pm
Airbus experts visited Pakistan several times in the past, unfortunately.
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May 26, 2020 06:55pm
Poor maintenance is the problem.
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May 26, 2020 06:58pm
How long it will take for the Airbus Experts Team to investigate, compile and make the report public on its website?
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May 26, 2020 07:09pm
After seeing these foreigner experts as technical investigators, now ,I have some glimpses of hope of finding out the real reason of this tragic accident.
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May 26, 2020 07:11pm
At the end it'll be declared as Pilot Error. The pilot shouldn't have tried to land the plane on the first attempt if he knew there was a problem with the landing gear. The first attempt brushed the plane's engines on the tarmac and caused the engines to fall. The sensible thing to do would be do a fly by so that the airport ATC could get a visible view of the landing gears. If the problem persisted then a dump of fuel and soft belly landing on open ground or in water should have been considered.
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May 26, 2020 07:13pm
100% human error behind the PIA tragedy.
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May 26, 2020 07:15pm
The PIA maintenance staff will be alarmed.
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May 26, 2020 07:16pm
French experts will find ill trained mechanics.
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May 26, 2020 07:18pm
Please let us not blame PIA or its maintainance division. This is a simple case of pilot error, on a unprecedented scale. Let the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder reveal the true nature of the accident.
First impressions: Pilot was flying in too fast and too high, forgot to deploy the landing gear, scraped both the engines (thrice) seriously damaging them , aborted belly landing, took off, deployed the landing gear but engines were unresponsive, lost altitude and crashed in a densely populated area.
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May 26, 2020 07:34pm
@M. Saeed,
When we have people like Mr Saeed giving their expert opinions why is there a need for further investigation.
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May 26, 2020 07:34pm
Although it is a very sad incident where 90+ lives were lost, but to void future incidents, PIA management must take concrete steps both at the operations level and among the Pilots. There are quite a few actual Pilots - ATC conversations floating around on the net suggesting that Pilots do not agree to what ATC staff is asking them to do. This shows the arrogance of pilots approaching the airport runway. All these actions to be sternly dealt with. In this situation as well, the ATC person asked the pilot of the ill fated aircraft to take certain steps like due to his high speed and elevation close to the airport and the pilot said that he will take care of that. Unfortunately he was unable to adjust his speed and elevation in due course of time and that caused the initial landing (belly landing).
Again very sad incident and innocent people lost their lives due to most probably pilot negligence.
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May 26, 2020 07:44pm
Why we have so many crashes? This is, I believe, 3rd crash within 5 years
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May 26, 2020 07:45pm
@M. Emad, PIA has a bad record, hope airbus can fix it now.
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May 26, 2020 07:47pm
Its easy to blame someone who is not around to contest
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May 26, 2020 07:47pm
PIA needs complete overhauling
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May 26, 2020 07:54pm
CEO of PIA will escape to Dubai or London.
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May 26, 2020 08:09pm
Pakistan should ask china to send their experts for investigation to get fair report.
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May 26, 2020 08:14pm
It was clearly pilot error.
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May 26, 2020 08:18pm
we can all the visits from outsiders but the report will be published by local PIA and CAA and i dont trust them. I wish that Airbus should conduct there own inquiry and published the reaults.
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May 26, 2020 08:39pm
Proper qualifications and standardized training prevent accidents
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May 26, 2020 08:39pm
is this true that both the engines hit the ground while in first attempt of landing?why nobody stopped the pilot to fly again?how u can fly when both of ur engines were hit
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May 26, 2020 08:47pm
Anyone remember Sahiwal investigation? Nothing happened so nothing will happen in this investigation either.
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May 26, 2020 09:05pm
According to manufacturer’s manual Airbus A320 Family Is required to undergo maintenance at regular intervals - from simple daily checks of items such as engine oil-level, up to heavy maintenance checks in which much of the aircraft structure is disassembled & visually checked. The maintenance intervals are specified by the aircraft manufacturer, & are typically based on calendar time, flights, flight hours or some combination of these.
The latest schedule for the A320 Family maintenance time between A-checks to be carried out, is 600 hours, that C-checks every 20 months or 6,000 flight hours. In addition, the 6-year heavy-maintenance check & the 12-year heavy maintenance checks also to be carried out. This maintenance schedule is based upon work done by the airworthiness authorities, airlines flying Airbus A320 Family aircraft, engine-manufacturers, major suppliers & Airbus.
Let us hope that keeping in view a very busy operation of PIA’s small fleet, these schedules were followed.
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May 26, 2020 09:12pm
@LgbtqX, "Poor maintenance is the problem."
Better concentrate on your 'flying-coffins'.
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May 26, 2020 09:12pm
wonder what will they find.
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May 26, 2020 09:26pm
I don’t think they can do anything. It’s not the fault of the aircraft it was a total failure on part of the pilot. When he was instructed to land why did he went again in the air.
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May 26, 2020 09:50pm
Who is paying for this service to these experts. And what they want to investigate. Every one knows what happened. Let me put that tragedy in few bullets
1. Two landing attempts
2. First landing attemp
2.1 pilot did not follow required altitude protocol
2.2 pilot ignored ding ding ding signal. Tire did not open. Poor maintenance.
2.3 pilot learned tire did not open when both engine touched the runway
2 4 pilot thought the plane will crash Ang his gut feeling triggered and instead of belly landing he took plane back in the air
2.5 airport tower did not told pilot that tires did not open. Were they sleeping in the tower Their neggilgence also.
3 second attempt
3.1. Both engines were damaged but were functioning till before landing
3.2 Pilot was able to open the tires this time
3.3 Badluck struck. Both engines stoped functiong before few minutes of landing.
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May 26, 2020 09:51pm
It's clearly a pilot's error.
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May 26, 2020 10:21pm
Accidents and mishaps happen and are part of the engagement. Whether it is human error or mechanical failure, Pak Government and PIA should conduct clean investigation to improve for secure future. Case in point, years back in US plane went down in winter under frigid conditions ( can’t remember exact year) and upon conclusion of investigation, it was found that rudder of aircraft has frozen due to cold conditions, de-icing was made as standard rule of engagement during icy and extreme cold conditions. Investigations are not meant for improvements not to point fingers. Let investigation sail through honestly and implement recommendations for better future for safe and happy flying experience.
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May 26, 2020 10:22pm
Poor quality Pilots
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May 26, 2020 10:29pm
Why does everyone suddenly become an expert whenever anything like this happens? We should all have the humility to state that what we are saying in an opinion, and we should learn to use words like 'maybe'
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May 26, 2020 10:31pm
The management of PIA and CAA, have already attributed fall of ill-fated plane to Captain for his alleged mistake for this unfortunate casualty. This accusation will translate a sigh of relief for Airbus Company. Hitherto, no investigation reports in Pakistan were made to public nor real culprits sent to jail. All the departed souls RIP.
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May 26, 2020 10:42pm
On one hand you hear about both pilots being among the most senior in the airline. On the other you have glaring basic decision mistakes - flying too high in the minutes before landing despite three clear warnings from control tower and many from the on-board computer; then bringing down the plane for landing in panic mode when they could have easily just turned around and tried again; touching the runway without landing gear and damaging the engine which they then wanted to immediately use for the second attempt.
Many western sources are pointing the finger at religious fasting by pilots which prevented them from working at full alertness. The airline rules also prohibit fasting by pilots. Some are saying that if they took diabetes medicine while fasting, it would quickly impede the mental performance.
This is so important to know as it equally applies to people driving cars and motor cycles everywhere. If fasting, be cautious, careful and preferably, just avoid.
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May 26, 2020 10:43pm
@Idris, why?
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May 26, 2020 11:21pm
Boeing and Airbus are two monopolies that will try to avert the problem on poor maintenance. Their report cannot be 100% trusted though. I think fair thing would be to include impartial team and not team from Airbus. We have instance of Boeing 737 Max whose first incident in Lion Airways was blamed for human error on pilot rather than on Boeing itself. Was that a fair report? Time proved otherwise.
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May 26, 2020 11:25pm
@Anandita Pandey, Are you an expert?
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May 26, 2020 11:41pm
For a technical analysis of what went wrong: Do a search on Youtube for:
"Pakistan International Airlines #8303 Runway Evidence- Update #3 24 May 2020"
blancolirio
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May 26, 2020 11:58pm
According to the Urdu media news the Voice Recorder of this destroyed airplane is missing?
Did the authorities steal the Voice Recorder for known reasons?
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May 27, 2020 12:00am
Facts:
1- Pilot was flying at higher altitude than he should be
2- Landing Gears were not deployed at the time of landing
3- Pilot had no intention to bally land the aircraft, no emergency was declared, bally landing protocol was not followed including dumping the fuel, spreading foam on the run way and availability of emergency vehicles.
4- speed of the aircraft was high, aircraft touched the ground at 4500 feet instead of typical 1500 feet. Aircraft momentum was high enough that pilot was able to take off after touching the runway 3 times
5-Pilot only realized after the take off that his engines are no longer able to provide him the lift he needed to make a standard turn around.
6- pilot tried to take short cut for landing and end up crashing the aircraft in the residential area.
Questions:
1- if landing gear was nor deployed did GPWS came off to warn the pilot?
3-There is a landing checklist which Pilot and first officer jointly perform, did they follow the SOP at landing?
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May 27, 2020 12:13am
It seems pilot error unfortunately he could not handle the situation well..
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May 27, 2020 12:21am
@M. Emad, be sure to visit hunza valley
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May 27, 2020 12:50am
This crash needs a very little investigation as things are crystal clear from the evidence available. (1) The pilot flew at double the hight, he should have (2) The pilot did not inform the air controller that he is having landing gear problem (3) He was landing at belly, actually in his senses he was landing on wheels (4) Air controller should not have allowed a landing coming from that hight (5) The air controller should have observed that landing gear was not down. (6) The pilot should never have gone for a go-around after hitting both his engines.
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May 27, 2020 01:18am
The question arises whether the plane alerted the pilot of a faulty landimg gear or not. Knkwing that Karachi is a port city I do not think the pilots would have tried a hard landing on the runway without the landing gears properly deployed. Had they known the issue, they may have flown by, dumped fuel and tried a water landing in the sea. If the plane did not alert the pilots of the landing gear having not deployed, that may point towards poor maintenance records of sensors, etc. In any case, unfortunate loss of life. May the departed souls rest in peace.
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May 27, 2020 01:19am
@Samiullah khan, What they do best, find the cause of the crash
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May 27, 2020 01:31am
It is so sad that PIA has gone down over the years ,
There should ban the unions and place everything on merit and merit only in our country there are enough of engineers and technical staff to develop and maintain
Especially young boys and girls who graduate from engineering colleges
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May 27, 2020 03:05am
@Wah Ustad, there was no problem with the landing gear. The gear deployed fine for the second round of landing. It can be seen clearly in the videos.
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May 27, 2020 03:07am
The news media is forced to say "engine failure" the world knows the truth..... Imran was elected PM and here too world knows the truth. Thank you very much.
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May 27, 2020 03:12am
Airbus officials arrived because it is a protocol. They must investigate as it is an essential part of their Company's ethics.
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May 27, 2020 03:24am
They already removed the wreckage from the crash site. The brilliant Pakistani crisis management team
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May 27, 2020 03:31am
Perhaps IT Arrives. PIA living up to its name.
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May 27, 2020 03:35am
It looks like it was pilot's error.
1.He started the descent very very late,came down almost vertically.
2.Did not extend the landing gears which probable resulted in engines touching the ground,which probably failed the engine.
3.On second attempt to land he crashed over the houses,which should not have been built in the proximity of airport
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May 27, 2020 04:21am
@LgbtqX, how do you know?
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May 27, 2020 04:23am
@Wah Ustad, here's an expert!
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May 27, 2020 04:54am
This was simply a pilot error. Either he forgot to lower the landing gear or did it when the plane was flying at a speed of more than 260 knots. If over 260 knots, airplanes safety mechanisms prevent it from lowering to avoid damage to landing gears while flight. It is also apparent he did not go through the landing checklist, otherwise he would have seen the landing gear alert light. And finally the alarm which is audible on recording from ATC, which pilot ignored. He had so many opportunities to prevent this accident but he failed. Perhaps over confident that he alarms don’t mean much, plane is flying fine. There was nothing wrong with the plane till it’s engines touched the runway three times. It’s an open and shut case of pilot error. The only question left is whether Pakistani government release the actual cause of the accident or release a report that will be acceptable by the people. This was a tragic accident by all means, totally preventable.
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May 27, 2020 05:47am
So sad to read some of the sarcastic comments on the arrival of Airbus Experts.
They are Professionals and are here on official business.
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May 27, 2020 06:10am
@Wah Ustad,
No sir.
It's easy to pass the comments now. Just imagine you are ipilots shoes.
It's difficult to imagine a situation like this and hope it nvr comes
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May 27, 2020 06:14am
@Samiullah khan, They will investigate and learning from it , make travel more safer.
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May 27, 2020 06:32am
What stevairbus experts doing if Pakistan has claimed that it was its pilots fault
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May 27, 2020 06:39am
I personally think that the pilot lacked the skills and training to get the situation under control. To be honest he could have landed easily without the wheels opening. The plane would have eventually stopped on the runway and people could have gotten out once the slides were in place through the emergency exits to slide their way out. The pilot should not have gone back up in the sky as that was a wrong move on his part and very poor judgement. People calling this man an experienced pilot have lost their mind and don't know what they are talking about. I think PIA needs to retrain all their pilots and give them refresher courses as to how they can safely land the plane in such dire situations.
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May 27, 2020 07:20am
Has to be maintenance issues. It’s common knowledge how negligent the maintenance procedures are. Another diversion from COVID19 funds needed to upgrade maintenance of aircrafts, or get another loan.
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May 27, 2020 07:20am
The team came to protect airbus from liability . Apparently it was nit pilots fault. Engine failure is a inspection and maintenance issue. The Chief of PIA should take the responsibility and honorably resign.
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May 27, 2020 07:35am
Looks like everyone is expert and reached the point of actuality.
It shows our historical attitude to searching favourite culprit then stop probe and start criticism.
Investigation is not only for findings what but why happened too. It help to make future flights more safer.
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May 27, 2020 08:05am
Both of the ATC staff and the pilots seemed to be either not well trained or of careless type, like most of our people.
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May 27, 2020 08:06am
Shut down PIA. It is an embarrassment to the country just as Air India is to India.
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May 27, 2020 08:09am
It appears human error. PIA should be dissolved and sold to khaqan Abbasi.
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May 27, 2020 08:15am
Government and PIA management must be doing their best to make them return to France without a proper investigation.
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May 27, 2020 09:22am
The pilot would be blamed,the original report would never come out and iron brother can never be wrong with Pakistan.
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May 27, 2020 05:12pm
@T-man, I like your suggestion. I think Malik Riaz will be a better candidate to buy PIA as compared to Khaqan Abbasi. Bottom line. It is time to privitize PIA but with a different name.
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