PESHAWAR, March 28: A fresh report submitted to the Peshawar High Court on Thursday regarding the 2010 Airblue plane crash for the first time highlights some faults on the part of Air Traffic System, saying the duty controller at Islamabad Control Tower was the most junior officer in the shift and had too little experience to handle such complex situation.

The report said the duty controller being from Pakistan Air Force at Benazir Bhutto International Airport (BBIA) Tower was not qualified as per International Civil Aviation Organisation SARPs (standard and recommended practices) to handle civil traffic and he did not possess the require qualification like completion of ICAO Basic Course from any ICAO recognised institute.

It said the duty controller had not undergone on job training under the supervision of the qualified civil controller.

A 25-page summary of the report compiled by president of Safety Investigation Board of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Air Commodore M Abdul Basit was submitted to a bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah by the senior legal adviser of the authority, Obaidur Rehman Abbasi.

Initially when a report regarding the inquiry conducted by SIB of CAA was submitted to the high court in Dec 2011, the major cause of the plane crash, which had left all 152 people on board dead, was given as misjudgments by the captain of the plane and inclement weather.

However, the court had expressed reservations over the said report and ordered to conduct inquiry through international experts.

During that inquiry by international experts, it came to light that certain facts were ignored in the earlier inquiry following which the court had directed CAA to submit another report to the court in light of the findings of the international experts. The bench fixed April 30 for next hearing with the direction to Mr Abdul Basit and Mr Abbasi to submit the recommendations given by SIB in light of these findings to avoid such accidents in future.

The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by former MNA Marvi Memon on behalf of the families of dead passengers.

Mr Abbasi said he had earlier informed the court that CAA would not hide anything from the court and the present report submitted by them fulfilled their commitment.

The report said BBIA was jointly used by military and civil aircraft. Aerodrome control service is provided by PAF and radar control service by CAA in their respective areas.

The final conclusion of the report states: “Airblue crash has been finalised as a case of Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) in which aircrew failed to display superior judgment and professional skills in a self-created unsafe environment in their pursuit to land in inclement weather they committed serious violations of procedures and breaches of flying disciplines, which put the aircraft in an unsafe condition over dangerous terrain at low altitude.

“However, the second line of defence on ground i.e. ATS (both radar and ATC tower), which could have brought the aircraft out of this situation by rendering assistance, also failed to avert CFIT due to lack of knowledge, training and ambiguous procedures in the type of scenario the aircraft was flying in last phase of flight.”

The report said the radar controller did not pass current deteriorated weather condition to flight ABQ-202 (Airblue flight) before clearing the plane for approaching. Furthermore, the radar controller did not pass difficulties faced by the preceding landing aircraft to flight ABQ-202.

“Tower controller took the situation in a casual way and did not take necessary action on losing visual contact with flight ABQ-202,” the inquiry report said, adding that a senior tower controller at the tower, instead of taking over the control of air traffic, let the junior controller continue handling aerodrome traffic in severe inclement weather conditions.

The investigation ruled that no evidence was found for any internal or external sabotage, incapacitation of the aircraft systems, in-flight fire, bird strike or structural fatigue.

It, however, said the captain behaviour towards the flying officer was harsh, snobbish and contrary to establish norms.