PIA ‘sacrifices black goat' before flying ATR plane

ISLAMABAD: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) may have cleared the ATR planes for flying operations, but mere clearance seemed a half-job done for the authorities as they resorted to slaughter black goat to ward off any ‘untoward happening’ in view of looming fear, ARY News reported.

According to our correspondent Salahuddin, sacrifice of the goat was given at Islamabad airport on behalf of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

And the goat was slaughtered moments before the jet took off for first time after shakedown tests. The ‘ritual’ took place before Multan-bound flight left the Islamabad airport.

The PIA had grounded all of its 10 ATR aircrafts after the Civil Aviation Authority ordered shakedown tests of the planes.

The directions came after an ATR aircraft reportedly caught fire while on runway of Multan Airport before taking off last week.

The PIA airplane PK-581 with 48 passengers on board was set to take off from Multan to Karachi when it suffered a blaze incident.

According to PIA: “It has been decided to keep all 10 ATR aircraft grounded till they are cleared after thorough examination.”

The statement said the “temporary suspension of ATR operation” will affect PIA’s flights to smaller airports like Gwadar, Turbat, Panjgur, Mohenjo Daro, Zhob, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Chitral and Gilgit.