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| July 12, 2006 | Wednesday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 15, 1427 |
High temperature, excessive cargo may have caused crash: experts
KARACHI, July 11: High temperature coupled with excessive cargo is likely to be a cause of engine failure that led to the PIA Fokker plane crash on Monday in Multan. Aviation experts said that the ill-fated aircraft’s rate of climb was probably affected by either excessive weight or higher outside temperature.
“Immediately after take-off, the aircraft may have started losing power on one of its engines, which ultimately failed as it climbed 150 to 200 feet,” they added.
The experts said the aircraft was already in a shallow climb rate and the fact was also pointed out and noted by the Air Traffic Control tower.
“If the outside temperature is high, the take-off weight is limited,” they said, adding that the performance of aircraft engine had been adversely affected by high temperature.
The experts accused PIA of planning flight schedules with minimum rest, instead of double of the duty time as per international standards.
PIA’s chief pilot Captain Sohail Tayyab told newsmen at a briefing that Captain Hamid Riaz Qureshi of the ill-fated flight was given a rest of 10 and a half hours.
“The flight was even delayed for half an hour to enable him to meet the minimum level of rest,” he added.
However, sources said the pilot would not have slept for more than four hours during the given ‘minimum rest’. They said Captain Hamid took a flight from Islamabad to Lahore on July 9 and the following day he flew to Multan from Lahore.
The sources said it should have taken the pilot at least two hours to reach hotel after landing at Multan airport. “The hotel operator must have given him a call time at least three hours before the departure from Multan to Lahore,” they added.
The sources said none of the senior officials from the airline’s head office attended the funeral of Captain Hamid in Lahore. “Only district manager, administration manager and station manager of Lahore and other colleagues were there at his funeral,” they said.
The airline has 25 senior vice-presidents and over 70 general managers, besides chairman and deputy managing director.
Meanwhile, a PIA press release said the Fokker-27 aircraft was airworthy by any international standards and had 7,000 life cycles left.
“The notion that the aircraft crashed just because it was old and not worthy of flying is incorrect,” it said.
The press release said airworthiness of an aircraft was determined by flying hours and not its age.
It said that PIA and Civil Aviation Authority were investigating the cause of the crash and as soon as the investigation was completed, the findings would be made public.
“The black box of the aircraft has been found and, once decoded, it will help the inquiry team to find out what actually happened with the unfortunate flight PK-688,” the press release said.
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