TUESDAY’S crash of an army plane in Rawalpindi has cast a pall over the nation. At least 18 people were reported to have lost their lives in the incident, among them five army personnel — two of them of officer rank. The civilian casualties included seven members of a family who were hit as the aircraft came down in a village next to a phase of Bahria Town in Rawalpindi. Many others are fighting for their lives in hospitals after suffering serious injuries in the accident, including burns that are most difficult to treat. Initial investigation hinted at a technical fault as the cause of the crash. One of the engines of the plane apparently stopped working; this will entail a protocol whereby all aircraft belonging to the same fleet will undergo inspection before they are cleared for flying. Eyewitness accounts say the ill-fated plane was flying at an unusually low altitude and its movement was erratic before it fell. It struck houses most of whose inhabitants were asleep at the time. It could well have been that, faced with the inevitable, the pilot did attempt to take the plane towards an open, unpopulated or less-crowded area.

The loss of lives on the ground, including those of women and children, as well as the severe injuries caused by the crash, is extremely distressing. It also raises the question of the possibility of an even greater tragedy had the crash occurred in a more densely populated area of the city. Apart from discussion on the points more directly related to this specific incident the incident is going to stir debate on many aspects of general aviation safety. Among them is the issue of maintaining a safe distance between populated areas and flying zones used by all kinds of aircraft. There has been just too heavy an increase in recent times in overhead traffic in thickly populated, often poorly planned urban areas. The issue has to be looked at closely and on an urgent basis.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2019