AirBlue jet down in Islamabad

[meekal ahmed]

Spinning away!

They are required to issue a preliminary report as per ICAO rules.

[ABQ]

Air Blue Crash Affectees' Group announced

KARACHI (October 16, 2010) : Families, friends and loved ones of the Air Blue victims have announced the formation of the 'Air Blue Crash Affectees Group'. The group aims at providing a platform for all affected families to gather and raise their concerns and to share their pain. They also aim at urging the Government, Air Blue, Airbus and the Civil Aviation Authority to clearly identify the causes of the crash in the most transparent manner.

Members of the group will also highlight the atrocious experience they had due to the lack of co-ordination on the part of both the authorities and Air Blue, in terms of managing the crisis and handling the families during such a tough time. The Air Blue plane crashed into the Margalla Hills on the morning of July 28, killing all 152 people on board. A number of families lost their sole breadwinners in the tragedy.

The Air Blue Crash Affectees Group will stand up for the rights of the aggrieved and ensure that they are adequately compensated as per international laws and precedents. The Group will also lobby for the formation of an independent judicial commission to study the aftermath of the disaster and design standard operating procedures for dealing with any such disasters in future.

Air Blue Crash Affectees Group is also forming a benevolent fund for providing short and long-term assistance to the deserving families of victim. The families and friends of such victims can contact the office of Air Blue Crash Affectees Group in Karachi for seeking legal advice and uniting in this just cause. Junaid Hamid, who lost his wife in the tragic crash, will be the convenor of the Air Blue Crash Affectees Group. The Secretariat of the Air Blue Crash Affectees Group has been established at 29-C, Sunset Commercial Street No 1, Phase 4, DHA, Karachi-75500. Phone: +92 21 -3531 3188, website: www.acag.com.pk, Email: [email protected]

[ABQ]

Who’s going to watch the watchdog?

All blog posts, comments and forums following the Airblue tragedy seemed to agree on one thing. The Pakistani public (at least those with internet access) had given its verdict. Our electronic media is in dire need of a crash course in ethical reporting. One commentator said: “It is unethical of reporters to harass and interview families of the victims of the crash. Talk about disrespect. Why would anyone want their immediate period of mourning to be shown live on national TV?”

The coverage varied from the pseudo-creative (Geo’s inaccurate and pointless animation of a plane crashing into hills), and the insensitive (describing dead bodies in unnecessary detail) to the bizarre (claiming the plane was shot down). With so many TV channels reporting round the clock, it is understandable that they need to keep viewers updated with every piece of information they can muster.

Or is it?

The print media, without gory footage and descriptions of the dead, has managed to cover the crash with a lot more finesse — using words, analysis and a few photographs. Forget an actual course in ethics. What about common sense? What goes on in the minds of the reporters when they are running after mourners for quotes? Does no one stop and think: what is the purpose of this coverage? Are we really informing the audience by asking such questions? How would we feel if we were in the victims’ shoes? Informative coverage should have focused on, rather than harassing relatives of victims, aspects of the tragedy such as the fact that the crash was in a part of the hills where access was difficult but that this did not deter locals from nearby villages to help.

The government and the owners and managers of media groups (including the one this newspaper belongs to) need to come up with a policy on media ethics. Attempts to do so are usually taken by the media as a curb on its freedom. But would it rather have complete freedom to do whatever it wants to the point that the government ends up thinking that such freedom is too much and then the plug is pulled — as Musharraf did when he was power, or would it rather adhere to some kind of standard? The Five Rupees blog asks a question that needs to be answered in light of the crash: do we “prefer a free and irresponsible media over a sedate but muzzled media?” If it is the media that has gotten us used to sensationalist journalism, the media alone can rectify this. But it has to be a unified decision, just one or two channels changing their ways won’t help.

I saw on a Saudi channel a programme called “No comment”. It showed footage of events with no sound, just a one line description of what was happening. No reporters screaming, running around, no TV anchors analysing things to death. It felt good. Sometimes we just need to know when to shut up.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30th, 2010.

[meekal ahmed]

ABQ,

This is welcome news. I hope they prevail in compensation and finding out the truth.

We know it was a CFIT accident. We don't know WHY.

[Abbas Ali]

AirBlue crash report will be presented to Director General Civil Aviation Authority this month, according to a a report in a local newspaper today (November 4).

Abbas

[meekal ahmed]

Abbas,

May be you can up-load the report here? I read it this morning.

I would do it myself but I don't know exactly how!

Thanks.

[Abbas Ali]

Meekal, here it is, it was published in November 4 edition of English daily 'The News'.



Abbas

[Moin]

"There is no such thing, at this date of the world's history, in America, as an independent press. There is not one of you who dares to write your honest opinions, and if you did, you know beforehand that it would never appear in print. I am paid weekly for keeping my honest opinion out of the paper I am connected with. Others of you are paid similar salaries for similar things, and any of you who would be so foolish as to write honest opinions would be out on the streets looking for another job. If I allowed my honest opinions to appear in one issue of my paper, before twenty-four hours my occupation would be gone. The business of the journalists is to destroy the truth; to lie outright; to pervert; to vilify and to sell his country and his race for his daily bread. We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. They pull the strings and we dance. Our talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes." - John Swinton, former head of the editorial staff for the New York Times.

[meekal ahmed]

Abbas,

As always, thank you.

[Abbas Ali]

Wreckage of crashed Air Blue plane still not lifted despite lapse of 4 months

ISLAMABAD: The process of probe into crashing of a plane of private airlines in federal capital has become more complicated and even its wreckage has not been removed from the scene despite lapse of several months.

Civil Aviation Authority sources told Online Saturday that only 55 percent process of lifting of wreckage of crashed plane had been completed even 4 months had elapsed. The management of private airlines had first of all requested army to help it remove the wreckage but army helicopter became engaged in relief activities in flood hit areas and inability was shown from army side in this regard. Later management contacted NATO authorities in Afghanistan as they were having such helicopters which could help lift the wreckage. However NATO demanded 124000 dollars for this work but management of Air Blue refused to accept their demand and the wreckage was still lying scattered at the site of incident in Margalla hills.

Sources told the investigation made so far had not given any indication that it was any act of sabotage. The information collected from black box are being used to finalize the inquiry.

Civil Aviation Authority sources told that for the sake of complete investigation it was essential that wreckage was lifted and brought into shape of structure but Air Blue management had not succeeded to do so. Therefore the investigation process was moving slow paced.

Source: www.onlinenews.com.pk

[meekal ahmed]

Abbas,

There was news today that the families want to be compensated on international terms -- that would be about Rs 12 million each compared to the Rs 5 million that I think AirBlue has offered. .

[Abbas Ali]

Letter to editor published in November 27 edition of English daily 'The Nation'.

Why can’t they tell us?

Published: November 27, 2010

Dr Haider Mehdi

(We) are neither the flower/blossoming of song, not the…note of music;
(We) are the sound of our own defeat/loss/breaking.
You are absorbed in the embellishment of your curls;
And for me are the concerns/apprehensions of matters far and long.
– Ghalib (translated by Aijaz Ahmad)

National calamities leave emotional scars on nearly all of us; if not for personal loss or setback in those tragedies, it is because of compassion, anguish and grief that we all feel for the innocent victims. The tragedy becomes all the greater if the causes remain unexplained, mysterious, or simply covered-up for the sacred ritual of deception. Such a national tragedy was Air Blue flight 202 that fell out of the sky for no apparent reason in the early hours of July 28, 2010, minutes before landing at Islamabad International Airport. A hundred and fifty two people died. Shivers go through my spine as I recall the news, those moments and precious lives lost. After all, we are human beings: aren’t we intrinsically wired to feel the pain, understand the nature and causes of such a calamity, seek a judgment as to how and why it happened and hold those responsible accountable? It is all part of the process in a civilised and democratic society.

Ironically, however, the country’s entire leadership at the helm of national affairs, civil aviation authorities, bureaucrats and the media have treated this sad occurrence as merely an episode that has passed, of little significance, and the loss of precious Pakistani lives as an accident that simply happened - just as random lightning bolts from the sky hit animals in an open field - an act of unforeseen forces out of the control of human power. But is this a fair and acceptable explanation of the Air Blue flight 202 crash? Why can’t Islamabad tell us what exactly happened?

The point is that modern planes, sophisticatedly engineered, with technology mastered by human enterprise and genius, do not fall out of the sky for no reason. Let me recount for you the recent drama in the cockpit in Qantas A380 superjumbo’s Singapore-Sydney flight: The seven-story tall plane, an engine as big as a bus, 450 passengers on board, a disintegrated engine blasting shrapnel holes in the superjumbo’s wing, aircraft computer system issuing an overwhelming flood of alarm warnings of the possible failure of the plane’s critical systems, sliced electric cables and hydraulic lines in the wing, two fuel tanks punctured, imbalance between the left and right side of the plane, and the wing’s forward spar - one of the beams that attaches it to the plane - damaged. The plane’s electrical bus system on the left wing had failed and the fire suppression system on the engine on fire could not be deployed. Not only that - once the plane touched the landing strip, brake temperatures reached over 1650 degrees Fahrenheit causing several flat tires. And yet, the pilot made a safe landing - no one was killed, no one perished. In a relatively short time, the authorities in Australia were able to explain all that was needed to understand the nature of the problems that struck the flight.

Source: The Nation

[meekal ahmed]

Abbas,

This guy sounds wackey. He's smoking something strong. I have never read such trash. And he calls himself a professor!

I have sent him an e-mail. It is nicer than what I am saying here. He will probably not reply.

Bombs, missiles, Blackwater, foreign embassies, CIA, FBI, MI6, Mossad, RAW..............

Let's get a life guys and grow up a little.

[Abbas Ali]

Whether the letter writer intentionally or unintentionally used phrase quoted below:

Air Blue flight 202 that fell out of the sky for no apparent reason

One thing is quite obvious is that AirBlue flight ED-202 accident happened due to Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).

But I agree with letter writer's demand for public release of crash investigation details.

Abbas

[meekal ahmed]

Well, he did reply my e-mail.

I explained that a missile is heat-seeking. It will home in on one of the exhausts. If it hits the engine, fuel lines would rupture, a wing may come off and the plane would explode showering debris all over Islamabad and killing hundreds.

None of this happened.

The impact point and the wreckage is fairly concentrated (despite the land-slide) suggesting a high-energy impact. A CFIT.