November 30, 2006	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 8, 1427

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KARACHI, Nov 29: The Civil Aviation Authority has initiated a probe into crash of its aircraft at the Sharjah International Airport and an investigator has been sent to the Gulf emirate to ascertain causes of the incident, it was learnt here on Wednesday.

The six-seater Beechcraft, which was on a navigational calibration mission, was severely damaged when it skidded off the runway after its left engine failed soon after take-off from the Sharjah airport on Monday.

The pilot made an effort for emergency landing, but the plane’s landing gear failed to deploy properly. A PIA pilot flying in the region was quoted as saying that the UAE airspace echoed with ‘May Day calls’ from the CAA aircraft.

The CAA’s aircraft checks the accuracy of landing guidance and navigational systems, called flight calibration. The systems, installed at all civil and military airports of Pakistan, is required to be checked every four months for ensuring accuracy - a mandatory requirement of the international regulator as aircraft land on the basis of signals transmitted by the landing guidance system or instrument landing system during bad weather conditions.

Officials said that apart from Pakistani airports, the CAA aircraft also calibrated equipment at airports in Sri Lanka, Maldives, UAE, Bangladesh and Nepal, having earned millions of dollars in two decades.

Sources said that there had been complaints of negligence over the past two years about inspection of radar systems.

They said the matter had been raised in a special meeting of the National Assembly’s standing committee for defence on July 25 when it discussed causes of the Multan Fokker crash.

The committee accused the CAA of being negligent in the inspection of radars and landing systems across the country over the past four years.

CAA deputy director-general Air Vice Marshal Mohammad Safdar, who is in-charge of operations, and president of the Safety Inspection Board Air Commodore Junaid Ameen were not available for comments despite repeated attempts made by Dawn.

The sources held director of flight safety responsible for the delay of four years in radar checking. The officer who also worked as CAA’s chief pilot, was not qualified to check the operation of any PIA aircraft as he was not licensed to fly any aircraft of the national carrier.

According to the sources, he was removed from the post of chief pilot of the CAA on Aug 5 this year, but was allowed to continue to work as director flight safety, a position which empowered him to check, certify, raid and even impound an aircraft of any Pakistani airline found unfit in any respect.

The sources said that on Jan 16, 2005, the director of flight safety conducted a calibration mission at Rahim Yar Khan. He flew from Karachi to Rahim Yar Khan and then back to Karachi without refuelling, ignoring the minimum fuel requirements.

The sources said that while the aircraft was nearing Karachi, the fuel situation was so precarious that he had to request the air traffic controller to give him priority landing as aircraft could have crashed any minute due to ‘fuel starvation’.

They said that an inquiry against the director had recommended appropriate action against him for violating the minimum fuel requirement rule and jeopardising the safety of the CAA aircraft and its crew.