Passenger plane crash in Islamabad

[Lady Macbeth]

Originally Posted by Neo

Rest in peace.
Air Blue has an excellent safety record, I wonder what went wrong.

Isnt Airblue an economical airline though? Cutting costs maybe?

[Neo]

[Neo]

[Neo]

[Neo]

Originally Posted by Lady Macbeth

Isnt Airblue an economical airline though? Cutting costs maybe?

The airline is founded and owned by 4 ex-pats living in California. She's known for her good service and maintains the aircraft well.
I think bad weather conditions are to blame. We will have to wait for the black box to know what went wrong.

[Neo]

Captain Pervaiz Iqbal Chaudhry was flying the plane. He's a fine pilot with 35 years of flying experience.
R.I.P.

[Neo]

"Islamabad airport not an easy destination to fly into"

Wednesday, 28 Jul, 2010

Pakistani rescuers surround the wreckage of a plane that crashed with 152 people on board, in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. – AP Home

KARACHI: The captain of the Pakistani passenger jet that crashed in the hills of Islamabad on Wednesday was a top professional flying into one of the most testing airports for pilots, a colleague said.

“Islamabad airport's location is not an easy destination to fly into,” Hashim Raza Gardezi, a former colleague of Pervez Iqbal Chaudhry who piloted the doomed Airbus A-321, told AFP.

The craggy Margalla Hills to the north of the capital and unpredictable wind patterns can make an approach extremely difficult he said, going so far as to describe Islamabad as “one of the worst weather conditions in the world”.

“Irregular wind systems surround the Margalla Hills often make it difficult for the pilots while in the air,” Gardezi, a pilot for state Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), said.

Airblue's flight 202 from Karachi was coming into land at Benazir Bhutto International airport when witnesses saw a jet flying at unusually low altitude then heard a loud boom.

Gardezi told AFP that Chaudhry, was a true professional.

“Chaudhry was one of the finest professionals in this field... who never took unnecessary risks during his professional career.” Procedures for safe landing at Islamabad advise pilots not to descend lower than 1,000 feet (300 metres) unless they have full visibility of the runway.

Gardezi said half an hour before the crash, a PIA flight was diverted to the eastern city of Lahore owing to poor weather conditions.

“With the experience Chaudhry had, I suppose the weather had got better by then prompting him to go for landing,” he told Geo television.

Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said the pilot had been in contact with the control tower at the airport until just before the crash.

“In the last conversation with the control tower, the pilot had been given landing clearance and the plane was proceeding normally for landing before it crashed into the hills,” said Riaz-ul-Haq, the authority's deputy director.

The civil aviation authority said all possible causes would be investigated, including terrorism and bad weather, although officials gave no indication that an attack might have been to blame.

DAWN.COM | Pakistan | "Islamabad airport not an easy destination to fly into"

[vinod2070]

RIP. Suddenly it appears that there are more air accidents happening that usual!

[Interceptor]

Originally Posted by Lady Macbeth

Isnt Airblue an economical airline though? Cutting costs maybe?

You have valid point there Lady there might have been cost measuring exercises that may have been part of the factor of why the aircraft crashed. However if your thinking this may include the maintenance then you should know that all aircraft have to go through an internationally recognized service. If this is not done then they wont be allowed to carry passengers or fly in and out of there its strict. For example the fiasco during Musharraf era where the flights for Amsterdam to Islamabad were halted due to poor maintenance of aircrafts and flights were halted for 3 years until recent. Maintenance is thoroughly checked and these A321's flew regularly from Manchester to Islamabad there must be other factors that may have been the cause. I think pilot fatigue may be involved it seems that due to the cost cutting measures pilots may have been made to over work. Other noticable things are the plane may have carried a fault when it returned from its previous flight but care wasnt taken to report the incident? Because the plane took an unusual course and flew at very low altitude and not only that it crashed into a mountain was the pilot trying to avoid the capital from any carnage?

[Neo]

Originally Posted by vinod2070

RIP. Suddenly it appears that there are more air accidents happening that usual!

Yeah...usually when one goes down, others follow...
Strange..