THERE is something about an air crash that evokes a visceral horror. Even more so when it is close to home, when the back stories of the victims have a familiar ring, their lives having followed trajectories that we can identify with before they met their terrible, tragic end. So it has been since Wednesday when news broke that PIA’s PK661 had crashed on its way from Chitral to Islamabad, killing all 47 people on board. Among the passengers — who included three foreigners — was Junaid Jamshed, erstwhile pop icon turned evangelist who had been visiting Chitral on a preaching mission. The young DC Chitral, Osama Warraich, who during the one year since his posting had earned much goodwill on account of his energetic work for the betterment of the area, was also on that ill-fated flight. Indeed, every one of those who perished was important in their own way to their family and friends.

It is, of course, too early to say what caused the crash, although that has not stopped all manner of speculation from finding its way into the public domain. What we do know so far with some certainty is the following: the ATR, a twin-engine turboprop, is considered a robust aircraft and this particular specimen was 10 years old, far below the age such aircraft are retired. It had also recently undergone the routine check due on these planes after every 500 flying hours. Unravelling the cause behind the crash would have to begin with the readout of the flight data recorder. That should help determine whether a sudden, catastrophic failure of some kind developed during the flight or whether the problem was one that had been overlooked during maintenance. Another point to consider is why the pilots were unable to fly on one engine, a manoeuvre they are routinely trained to perform, and land safely.

The national flag carrier has once again come under the spotlight. PIA has been struggling for some time with massive financial and technical problems, and this air crash is bound to raise questions about the quality of the fleet, although efforts are being made to change things around. It must be pointed out that there has been in recent years a disturbing rise in aircraft accidents/incidents involving not only PIA, but also Pakistan’s private airlines. Here the oversight role of the Civil Aviation Authority, which works under the cabinet secretariat’s aviation division, is very pertinent. While PIA is responsible for training the cockpit crew flying its aircraft, the CAA, as the aviation regulator in Pakistan, carries out flight checks and issues licences to pilots employed with all local airlines. That said, whatever the findings of the investigation team, they must be made public, and measures taken to ensure that such a ghastly misfortune does not again befall any Pakistani airline.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2016