PIA plane crash: Pilots' body irked over leak of probe details

KARACHI: Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) on Tuesday protested over what it claimed alleged leak of details of a probe into the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash incident, ARY NEWS reported.

“The administration seems no more interested in conducting a thorough probe into the incident,” the pilots’ association blamed.

It claimed that the leak was aimed at diverting the probe into the incident that claimed lives of 97 people onboard except two survivors. “They wanted to save the real characters behind the incident,” it said.

The association said that the pilots also have questions to be asked from the air traffic control officials.

They further expressed their concern as to why a long route was designated for the ill-fated plane. “The air traffic control officials are trying to portray a wrong picture by merging details of first and second landing attempts from the plane,” the PALPA said.

It further demanded of the authorities to fulfill the promise they committed with the father of martyred PIA pilot Sajjad Gul regarding not leaking inquiry report into the matter.

It is pertinent to mention here that the air traffic controller (ATC) and approach tower controllers have submitted written reply to the investigation board probing into Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, PK-8303, crash incident on Tuesday.

Major progress has been made in the investigation into PIA plane crash incident as ATC and approach tower controllers submitted their written responses before the aircraft accident and investigation.

It stated that the approach tower controller had handled the flight from Lahore to Karachi and the task was handed over to the ATC to make the plane safely landed at the airport. The landing task had been given by the approach tower to the ATC after 10 nautical miles.

The air traffic controller told the probe board that the captain neglected the instructions at 10 nautical miles as a plane needs to maintain 1,800-foot altitude before landing, whereas, the captain of the ill-fated plane had maintained 3,000 -foot altitude at that time.