Unfortunate aircraft had history of botched landing

ISLAMABAD: PIA aircraft, crashed in Havelian while en route to Islamabad, had earlier damaged during a landing attempt at Lahore airport in year 2009 .

A twin-propeller aircraft ATR 42-500 was skidded at the Lahore airport runway and was grounded in the adjacent katcha land.

The landing gear and hind-side of the aircraft were damaged in the incident.

The aircraft having code number APB HO, was subsequently repaired and returned to service.

According to sources, the engineers had raised questions over the performance of the aircraft, which went down near Havelian resulting in death of 48 people including passengers and the crew.

The pilots of the aircraft had informed the engineering department about the glitch in an engine of the aircraft but the fault not attended properly, sources added.