I don't agree with this point of view. Ilyushin Il-76 is one of the most successful and reliable heavy lift cargo transporters in service around the world with various civilian and military operators.

The Il-76 crash in Karachi is apparently related to aircraft's maintenance work. Seems like a catastrophic engine exlposion ignited large fire which engulfed large section of aircraft wing/fuselage.


This makes it clear why the Il-76 landed in Karachi. Probably the tents were purchased from some Pakistani tent manufacturing company or probably these tents were extra in stock of some relief work agency in Pakistan which decided to shift these tents to Sudan for some sort of relief work in that country.


I don't think many privately owned airlines have cargo aircraft with cargo load capacity of Il-76.

The Pakistani company with large size cargo aircraft that I know is Rayyan Air with two Boeing 747 freighters.

Not sure, but I think Vision Air also has a leased foreign registered Il-76 freighter.

Royal Airlines used to operate at least one foreign registered Il-76 but it crashed in Afghanistan some years ago.

Pakistan's three major known airlines i.e. PIA, Shaheen Air and AirBlue do not have freighter aircraft of any size in their fleet.

Abbas

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Possibility of aircraft's cargo load of tents catching fire will also be considered in investigation, according to an unnamed aviation expert's opinion published in a local newspaper today.

However, I think cargo load catching fire would have taken some time to spread and that would have given sufficient time to the crew to return and make emergency landing at Karachi Airport. Only in case of rapid spread of cargo load fire there's chance of aircraft structural failure or crew getting incapacitated due to entry of fire smoke in the cockpit.

Engine explosion, igniting fuel supply line and damaging wing control surfaces causing aircraft structural failure appears most likely cause of this sad accident.

Btw, according to a local newspaper report, the recovery of aircraft's black box can take further 1-2 days. The aircraft's section containing black box is buried under the rubble of collapsed building which is being removed.

After its recovery, the black box most likely will be sent to Dubai for decoding process.

A team from aircraft maker i.e. Ilyushin is also expected to arrive in Pakistan to take part in investigation process, according to some local news channels.

Abbas

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Was there a distress call from the crew? I have not heard anything.

That Il-76 cockpit usually has about five/six crew sitting in it. They must have all been preoccupied with the fire-drill but the Radio Operator could have made a call although to not much avail.

Meekal it all happened with in a min's time frame (seconds) after take off, they prolly didn't had a chance as all happened so bloody fast!!!

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Search for black box continues

KARACHI, Nov 29: While workers sift through the wreckage of the ill-fated Russian-made cargo plane (IL 76) that crashed in the early hours of Sunday inside a naval residential facility for its black box, a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) accident investigation team visited the site on Monday and examined the parts of the aircraft.

The CAA Safety Investigation Board’s probe team is headed by Air Commodore Khawaja Abdul Majeed and comprises Group Captain Sardar Mohammad Ilyas (technical investigator), retired group captain Mujahid Islam Khan (operations investigator) and Dr Afzal Bughio (member medical).

The investigators were looking for the flight recorder as well the voice recorder, maps, flight plans, crew papers, technical papers and any other important equipment that could help them to arrive at a conclusion about the exact cause of the crash.

Sources said that they also collected some parts and equipment that would be examined in laboratory.

CAA’s media consultant Mukhtar Ahmed Butt told Dawn on Monday that the black box, voice recorder, etc, of the cargo plane had not yet been found but the workers were carefully scanning the wreckage.

He expressed the hope that the black box would be found soon and as the crash site was a naval protected compound, it was not possible for any unauthorised person to take away any equipment, part or black box from the accident site.

The sources said that of the eight crew members of the illfated cargo plane, one was a Russian (Ulyanov Alexander) while other victims were Ukrainians.

The names of the other seven crew members are: Capt Nyzhnyk Taras (pilot in command), Capt Dyadechko Serhiy (co-pilot), Nav Shpunt Olekandr (navigator), Engineer Solodenko Yevgen (flight engineer), Red Malyy Vovodymyr (radio technician), Engr Korol Ov Viktor (engineer) and Abaturov Viacheslav (engineer).

Source: DAWN

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Pakistan registered: aircraft CAA responsible for safe operation

KARACHI (December 01, 2010) : Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority as regulatory body is responsible for safe operation of Pakistan registered aircraft. However all foreign registered transport category/cargo aircraft are being controlled by the respective regulatory body of their country being the state of registry as well as state of operator. In order to meet the ICAO obligations, CAA Pakistan ensures safe operation of aircraft from its aerodromes.

However, the responsibility of maintenance and safe release of foreign registered aircraft operation lies on the shoulders of their Aircraft Maintenance Engineers or technical handling agents duly approved by the State of Registry.

There are few operators who are involved in cargo operation in Pakistan, some of them have Pakistan Registered Aircraft and some are foreign registered. In order to carry out surveillance of foreign registered aircraft bilateral agreement between two states is necessary in accordance with ICAO Convention Article 83 BIS, wherein state of registry delegates limited powers pertaining to aircraft operation in Pakistan. Pakistan CAA is not responsible for surveillance of foreign registered aircraft making technical landings at Pakistan aerodrome, however their Aircraft Maintenance Engineer ensures the safety of aircraft before releasing for service after detailed transit check and physicals inspection.-PR

Source: www.brecorder.com

CAA has no control over maintenance of in-transit aircraft’

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Tuesday that it had no control over the in-transit aircraft that are not registered locally but use the country’s airports for refueling or other technical reasons. The statement came two days after an IL-76 aircraft of a Russian airline Sun Ways crashed in a residential locality, minutes after taking off from Karachi airport.

“Pakistan CAA is not responsible for surveillance of foreign registered aircraft making technical landings,” a CAA spokesman said. “Three aircraft of the same make have been grounded for now.”

According to CAA, six to seven aircraft make non-schedule landings at Karachi airport every day. “All these flights come from Afghanistan for refueling and head off to Sudan,” the spokesman said. He confirmed that CAA was considering seeking compensation from the Russian aviation authorities. “Obviously, the people who lost their property will come to us and we have to arrange money from somewhere.” The IL-76 had crashed on under-construction houses in a naval colony. Eight crew members and three construction workers were killed. It has also been learnt that the Ukrainian government has contacted diplomats in Islamabad for retrieval of the bodies of crew.

Source: The News

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However, I think CAA should take some sort of steps to make sure that all aircraft whether they are registered in Pakistan or abroad and whether operated by Pakistani or foreign airlines are safe to fly from Pakistani airports because in case of a fatal accident of any aircraft not only lives of crew members are lost but loss of Pakistani lives and property on ground can also happen like in Il-76 accident.

Now it seems CAA has begun taking action in this regard by impounding foreign aircraft which the regulatory authority feels are not properly maintained or fit to fly from Pakistani airports.

Abbas

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According to latest reports, crashed aircraft's black box has not been recovered so far.

The investigation process is slow due to delay in arrival of some officials from Georgia and experts from Russia. From Russia people repesenting aircraft-maker Ilyushin are expected to arrive in Pakistan to assist crash investigators.

Abbas

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This is strange reasoning as it would still have to fly, even more so, over Saudi airspace if it took off from OPKC. A much shorter route would have been to enter Oman from UAE, proceed over Yemeni airspace and enter Africa around Eritria

Besides tents were there any DGR's (Dangerous Goods) being carried in the cargo....................

The death toll of this tragic air accident has increased to 12.

The 12 people who died in this accident were:

8 crew members of the crashed aircraft.
4 casualties on the ground.

Casualties on ground include three construction workers who were inside the under-construction building and most likely they died instantly when that building was struck by the ill-fated aircraft.

The fourth casualty on ground was a young motorcyclist named Mohammad Raees who received burn injuries when the Il-76 struck ground and burst into flames.

Mohammad Raees was interviewed by Geo TV correspondent in a hospital soon after the accident and in that interview the young man visibly in pain due to burn injuries told TV crew that he saw burning aircraft coming down to the ground and his motorcycle also caught fire due to crashed aircraft.

When I saw Mohammad Raees on TV, I thought he would survive but unfortunately according to report in today’s (December 3) newspaper, Mohammad Raees succumbed to his injuries on the night of December 2.

Abbas

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Have they found black box of this aircraft ?

Abbas

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http://www.dawn.com/2010/12/08/team-fro ... probe.html
Team from Russia joins air crash probe
From the Newspaper
Yesterday
By Bhagwandas

KARACHI, Dec 7: A four-member Russian team has joined in the investigation into the crash of a Russian-made cargo plane in the city, it emerged on Tuesday.

All eight crew members of the aircraft and four people on the ground were killed in the crash.

According to sources, representatives of two more countries are also expected to arrive in the city to join the investigation team, which, under the International Civil Aviation Organisation rules, must comprise representatives of countries/organisations who have any link with the aircraft, passengers, etc.

The ill-fated aircraft — IL 76 — and its engines were manufactured in Russia, though it was registered in Georgia. Seven of the crew members were Ukrainians and the pilot was Russian. The sources said that the representatives of all these countries, therefore, would have to be invited to join in the investigation.

The sources said that while the Russian team had already arrived in the city, a representative of the Ukrainian embassy in Pakistan had since been nominated and that he might join the probe team soon. Only the Georgian investigators were now awaited to complete the team.

The sources said that blood samples of the foreign crash victims` relatives were being obtained so that the bodies could be identified through DNA tests.

The sources said that body parts of many victims and the plane`s equipment had been collected and quarantined. They would be examined in the presence of all members of the investigation team, they added.

The sources said that the Russian experts examining the wreckage of the plane and its equipment might be able to retrieve the black box.

If it even has a black box!! With some of these Russian planes, you can expect anything.

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Moin Abbasi

Whether they manage to recover aircraft's black box or not in both cases most likely general public will not be able to know what caused this accident.

Abbas

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