Cockpit, landing gear of crashed PIA plane pulled out from residential buildings

KARACHI: The cockpit and landing gear of the crashed aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), PK-8303, have been pulled out from the damaged residential buildings by using heavy machinery, ARY News reported on Monday.

The teams of PIA, Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and construction experts have taken part in the operation to pull out remaining parts of the crashed Airbus 320 aircraft from the debris of the building.

The recovered parts have been shifted to Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport, whereas, the engine of the plane will be pulled over from the head tank of a residential building in Karachi.

Sources said that the teams have called hydraulic crane of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) to be used for pulling out the engine.

The operation was stopped by the technical experts to recover more missing parts from the debris due to night, sources added.

Earlier on Sunday, the spokesperson of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had said that the process to pull out the aircraft’s engine and landing gear will begin on Monday (today) from the crash site by using heavy machinery.

The experts of Civil Aviation Authority, PIA and technical experts will make another attempt to pull out the remaining parts of the ill-fated aircraft present in a dilapidated residential building in Karachi’s Model Colony.

The PIA spokesperson said that the damaged two-storey building will be given technical support before taking out the landing gear and engine in order to void a complete collapse. Heavy machinery and crane have reached to the crash site for the completion of the task.

A PIA team will compile a review report on damages caused after the aircraft hit the residential buildings, whereas, the team of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) will be granted permission to visit the area for conducting a survey, said the spokesperson.
Earlier, the technical teams of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had made multiple attempts to pull out the engine and the landing gear of crashed PK-8303 aircraft.

The teams of technical experts had remained unsuccessful so far to remove the remaining parts of the plane present inside a residential building in dilapidated condition. After facing failures multiple times, the ground support, engineering, CAA and the construction experts had chalked out a new strategy to remove the engine.