May 16, 2007	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 28, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 15: The Society of Aircraft Engineers Pakistan (SAEP) has criticised remarks made in the National Assembly about engineering lapses leading to the crash of Pakistan International Airlines’ Fokker aircraft in Multan last year and said that they were illogical.

Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Major (retd) Tanvir Hussain in his statement on the crash in the National Assembly had said that PIA engineers had “virtually used (a) hammer and chisel” — and not tools designed for the job -- to fit a bearing in the plane’s turbine, leading to malfunctioning of the aircraft’s engine and ultimately its fatal crash.

SAEP President Shaukat Jamshed said that the claim that a hammer and chisel had been used to fit the bearing ridiculed all engineering principles.

He said a specialised tool had been provided by the manufacturer of the engines — Rolls Royce — and PIA had been using it since the first disassembly of the Dart engine. Moreover, he claimed, PIA had even more experience in overhauling Fokker engines than the OEM’s (original equipment manufacturers) overhaul shop, since the airline engineers had been doing this job for the past 40 years.

Mr Jamshed said that the CAA’s safety investigation board that was investigating the incident had requested disassembly of both engines in PIA’s engine overhaul shop in the presence of Rolls Royce investigators.