AirBlue jet down in Islamabad

[TAILWIND]

There is one thing called an 'interim report'.
IMO the whole procedure is flawed. The regulatory authority (in this case CAA) is a (potential) party to any aviation accident, therefore the investigating agency has to be independent (e.g NTSB, TSB Canada and AAIB UK). I suspect all this dilly dally on release of Airblue Crash report is because of this.

[Abbas Ali]

Quoted below are interesting paragraphs from an article on AirBlue crash in 'The Express Tribune Magazine' July 31 - August 6, 2011' issue:

"Defence Ministry officials admit that the CAA, after finalizing the inquiry report, handed it over to Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar some two and a half months back, after which the Defence Ministry made its own additions to the report.

Mukhtar, for his part, says the same report will be duly handed over the Prime Minister, However, in a meeting with Premier Gilani, Mukhtar reportedly warned him about the possibility of a serious backlash and 'negative consequences' if the report was made public."

So what could be the reason for keeping the report under the wraps? A senior official of the Prime Minister House, speaking on condition of anonymity, has an explanation to offer. He says that if the negligence of the operator or the concerned authorities is clearly established in the report, then the compensation amount would increase manifold. "Perhaps it is due to this reason in the last 60 years that no investigation report has been made public in Pakistan," he says.

.... the report on the incident will indeed be handed over to the Prime Minister ... "After that point," says a spokesman of the Defence Ministry, "Gilani will be the ultimate authority who decides whether the report is made public or not."

Abbas

[meekal ahmed]

Abbas,

In todays papers (August 04) it says the PM has agreed to forward the report to the manufacturers. It says that is an ICAO requirement. In that case, the report is still incomplete since one assume the comments will be incorpporated.

No one is dumb enough NOT to know that this is a question of money and power. Compensation for manslaughter can be huge; powerful people will oppose publication of the report to save their back-sides.

And so the games go on while the grieving families run from pillar to post.

[Abbas Ali]

DAWN newspaper report.

Communication gap blamed for Airblue crash

By Khawar Ghumman

ISLAMABAD: An investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority into last year’s Airblue flight 202 crash in Margalla hills has concluded that a communication gap between the cockpit, radar and control tower operators led to the accident in which the 152 people onboard died.

A detailed presentation on the report was given to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani by CAA officials on Wednesday.

According to sources, the investigation report said communication between the cockpit and control tower was missing at critical moments.

The pilot was duly warned the moment he drifted from the marked flight path. However, it appeared that by the time he realised the danger it was too late and he couldn’t save the plane.

Replying to a question, the sources said it was too early to reach a conclusion about fixing responsibility.

The report will be sent to manufacturers and designers of the plane and after receiving their comments the final report along with recommendations will be made public.

According to a handout, the Safety Investigation Board presented the investigation report to the prime minister and briefed him in detail on the events which had led to the crash.

“The prime minister has approved the dispatch of the investigation report for comments to the states that manufactured and designed the plane, which is a requirement of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The comments from these states are expected to be received within a period of 60 days.”

He said that while the government would wait for the comments from the manufacturers and designers, necessary directives must be issued to all concerned to ensure the safety of lives and equipment.

Source: DAWN

[TAILWIND]

Are there some technical issues or some possible technical failure that they are sending the report to manufacturer?????
Just a ploy to delay the publication.

[meekal ahmed]

absolutely agree.

[H Khan]

The concept and nature of 'investigation' evaporated in PIA and DGCA during the era of 70's Bhutto regime. However, on a pilot to pilot initiative (DGCA & senior PIA pilots) a position of Director of Flight Safety (DoFS) in PIA was created in summer of 1975. This is position was given the rank of an Director in PIA and was lead by the most senior and experienced pilot, Captain Shaukat H Khan, until it was abolished arbitrarily in January of 1981.

The initial corporation between PIA & DGCA (Captain Shaukat & A/C (r) Callaghan) was achieved some real positive results. After A/C (r) Callaghan retired, Captain Ghafar was assigned this position but he resigned in 1980 and went to greener pastures.

The biggest achievement by the offices of DoFS & DGCA was the investigation of Taif crash in November of 1979. However, because of certain 'red areas' were investigated the report never saw the light of the day and the report is collecting dust in MoD since it was submitted.

In 1984. DGCA became CAA which lead to creation of the position of Chief Flight Inspector (CFI). This position was held by Captain Shaukat Khan, who brought his experience immense experience and expertise.

Some of the crashes and accidents during the 70's and 80's were 'never' investigated just because MoD and/or the Chairman of PIA intervened and put an halt to the process. E.g., B-747 hijacking in March of '78, December '78 crash of F-27, fire and destruction of DC-10 in 1981, B-720 hijacking in March of 1981, Saudia L-1011 landing at Shahre Faisal air base in 1980 and 1981, etc.,

The bottom line is that the culture in Pakistan is not to investigate, own the responsibility and correct the errors just because some peoples 'izzat' is at stake.

To some the truth is an insult, to others life from the dead. --

He that never changes his opinions, never corrects his mistakes, will never be wiser on the morrow than he is today. --

[mohammed younis]

I dont understand?

it seems the blame of the crash is because communication between the cockpit and ATC was missing?
Missing? I dont get it what do they mean missing? was this due to the weather at that time?

[raihans]

As per my understanding so far, the communication gap is from ATC side; once they noticed that ED flight is out of track why they did not shouted and alarmed the pilots with number of calls by clearly stating their geographic position?

[meekal ahmed]

I saw a headline somewhere about ' communications failure' being the cause of the accident.

That is only a CONTRIBUTORY factor like fatigue, fasting, weather and so on. People don't understand these things. People here should know better!

Whatever the contributory factors, ultimately the buck stops with the person in the left-hand-seat in that cockpit.

[Abbas Ali]

AUGUST 10 - According to a local news channel, Sindh High Court has sought reasons for not disclosing AirBlue tragedy facts.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

'Report withheld to avoid legal, financial issues'

Javed Mirza

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

KARACHI: Even after the lapse of over a year, the crash investigation report of Airblue Flight ED-202 has not been made public, but certain things have surfaced that describe the purpose of keeping the inquiry a secret.

“There is legal and financial impetus to keep secret the investigation report because officials at the highest level in the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) will possibly face charges of breach of duty, criminal negligence and manslaughter while Airblue would be in financial trouble to pay unlimited compensation to victim’s legal heirs,” said Shah Murad, an aviation lawyer and advocate High Court.

“The Airblue Flight ED-202 crash into Margalla Hills was a tragedy waiting to happen. This was not an accident, but the direct result of serious dereliction of duty and criminal negligence of officials at the highest level in the CAA,” said the lawyer.

A spokesperson of the CAA said that the authority had submitted the report with the government and it was now up to the government to make it public.

CAA was not hiding anything, he said and added that the investigation was conducted by professionals both local and foreign and the initial report had already been dispatched to the maker of the aircraft and other relevant bodies.

CAA would include their feedback in the final report and submit it to the government, he said.

There has been much speculation following the plane crash that the investigation conducted by a team, headed by Air Commodore Khawaja Abdul Majeed, will fail short of brining truth to the fore, he said.

On the first anniversary of plane crash, the CAA indirectly put the blame on the pilots who cannot defend themselves now, said Murad.

The 62-year-old pilot-in-command of Airblue Flight ED 202, Capt Pervaiz Iqbal Chaudhry, had joined the Airblue after his retirement from PIA following the age relaxation granted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

It is worth mentioning here that just two months before the tragic accident, he was admitted to the Aga Khan Hospital on account of serious health issues including uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension and cardiac problems, Murad said.

Regarding medical fitness of pilots, the Standard 6.3.2.1 of Annex 1 (Personnel Licensing) says that the pilot should not suffer from any disease or disability that could hamper the pilot’s ability to operate an aircraft safely.

In addition, pilot with insulin-treated and non-insulin-treated diabetes mellitus are assessed as unfit. “How did the CAA issue him licence then?” asked the lawyer.

All bodies of passengers of ED-202 were shifted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad.

As per Standard 5.9 of ICAO Annex 13 (Aircraft Accident & Incident Investigation) and Rule 273 (2) (d) of Civil Aviation Rules, 1994, the investigator-in-charge was responsible for arranging complete autopsy of fatally injured flight crew, passengers and cabin attendants by forensic pathologists, preferably experienced in accident investigation.

“But the investigator-in-charge had not requested the hospital administration to conduct autopsy of passengers. Because of this, identification of some 72 passengers could not be established and they were collectively buried in H-11/2 graveyard of Islamabad,” Murad said.

“CAA is now hiding what it did in the past or more importantly what they don’t do, in an effort to escape liability for air disasters,” he added.

Throughout the world, aviation professionals have been criminally prosecuted subsequent to air crashes with a variety of charges including breach of duty, criminal negligence and manslaughter despite different legal systems and the penal codes in each country.

Since 1947, 1,066 people have lost their lives in 31 aircraft accidents in Pakistan, but the CAA has failed to make even a single investigation report public, he said.

Source: The News

[mages]

It is worth mentioning here that just two months before the tragic accident, he was admitted to the Aga Khan Hospital on account of serious health issues including uncontrolled diabetes, hypertension and cardiac problems, Murad said.

It is really funny that even now people are so misinformed about Capt. Pervez's health issues. He did not suffer from any of the above mentioned health issues. I am surprised that an educated lawyer would make such statements for public record without confirming the facts.

[meekal ahmed]

I agree with you mages that there was no point in saying that unless he has irrefutable corroborative information.

[offspring]

Its funny how this so called lawyer is an aviation expert. I can guarantee I have been part of more aviation cases yet I do not call myself an aviation expert.