AirBlue jet down in Islamabad

[Abbas Ali]

Few days old news report

High court told: Foreign experts due shortly for Airblue crash probe

PESHAWAR, May 30: Two international aviation experts nominated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) will reach Pakistan on Saturday (June 2) for investigating the 2010 Airblue plane crash, which killed all 152 on board, and that inquiry will be completed by June 10.

This was disclosed by defence secretary Nargis Sethi on Wednesday during a Peshawar High Court hearing into a petition, which sought the two-member bench’s order for independent inquiry into the crash and provision of appropriate compensation to the families of the dead passengers and crew members.

Source: DAWN

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Foreign experts have completed their investigation and their report will be presented to the government soon, according to following news report.

AirBlue crash: Reinvestigation report to be submitted soon, PHC told

Akhtar Amin
Friday, June 29, 2012

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was informed on Thursday that the foreign experts had completed reinvestigation into the Airblue plane crash incident and the report would be handed over to the government soon.

Obaidur Rehman Abbasi, senior legal officer of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and a representative of the federal government, informed the court that two foreign experts of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), including Dr Andre De Kock, a technical officer, and Thormodour Thormdsson, a standards and procedures officer, completed the reinvestigation within a period of seven days, from June 3 to 9.

They informed the two-member bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Mian Fasihul Mulk that the experts would compile the report and submit it to the government soon.

On January 19, a division bench headed by Justice Dost Muhammad Khan had rejected the CAA investigation and directed the federal government to constitute a new board of inquiry under international laws for revisiting the probe through international experts.

Source: The News

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

CAA asked to submit report within three weeks

By Akhtar Amin

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) observed on Tuesday there was no need to approve the reinvestigation report on the Airblue plane crash from the prime minister and directed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to submit the report within three weeks.

Senior legal advisor of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Obaidur Rehman Abbasi and senior counsel Abdul Shakoor Paracha informed a two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Mrs Irshad Qaisar that the Ministry of Defence had received the re-investigation report of the Airblue plane crash conducted by the investigators of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) on October 13 and would be submitted in the court after approval of the premier.

At this, the PHC chief justice observed that the report was conducted on the court’s directives and there was no need to get the report approved from the premier. He directed the CAA through the counsels to ensure submission of the report within three weeks in the court. The bench fixed November 14 for the next hearing.

The chief justice also remarked that the court would see whether the re-investigation of the Airblue plane crash was done in accordance with the terms of references laid down by the court and principles of International Protocol or not.

The representatives of the legal heirs of the plane crash victims including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Marvi Mamon, Junaid Hamid and lawyer Omar Farooq Adam submitted before the court that they had come to know that re-investigation of the plane crash was conducted in haste and the terms of references raised by the court in the re-investigation were not followed.

Source: The News

[Abbas Ali]

Foreign Investigation Team Also Blames Pilot Error for AirBlue Crash

* Recommends formation of an independent air accident investigation board in Pakistan



November 9, 2012 – According to Express News channel, a three-member International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) team has completed its investigation of AirBlue flight ED-202 accident. Their investigation report also blames pilot error for the crash. The report has been handed over to Pakistani authorities.

All 152 people including 6 crew members died when AirBlue Karachi to Islamabad flight ED-202 Airbus A321-231 (AP-BJB) crashed into Margalla Hills, Islamabad, on July 28, 2010.

The foreign investigation team has also said that relatives of AirBlue crash victims were not treated according to international rules/regulations.

Formation of an independent air accident investigation board in Pakistan has also been recommended by the foreign investigation team.

Hopefully, findings of foreign team’s investigation report will also be made public when it’s presented at Peshawar High Court on next hearing of AirBlue crash case on November 14.

Abbas

[newflyer]

What about the Bhoja Air report?

[Abbas Ali]

Airblue crash: Foreign experts say CAA withheld vital information

By Umer Farooq

Published: November 10, 2012

PESHAWAR: Investigation experts of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) completed their reinvestigation of the Airblue crash and submitted a report to the Ministry of Defence and the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday.

Airblue flight 202 crashed in the Margalla Hills on July 28, 2010 killing 146 passengers and six crew members.

During the last case hearing on October 17, the PHC asked the CAA’s senior legal adviser, Obaidur Rehman Abbasi, to share the reinvestigation report with the court when it’s completed.

The report reveals that the incident occurred after the pilot lost control of the aircraft.

It further says that the investigation report made by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), which is available on its website, is incomplete and lacks vital information.

The CAA’s initial investigation, referred to as the draft report, had more details. But after it was sent for a review on March 7, 2011, the CAA director general (DG) ordered that some information be deleted from the final report, which was made public, sources familiar with the ICAO investigation told The Express Tribune. Under CAA rule 281, the DG has the power to share information at his/her discretion.

The reinvestigation was carried out by ICAO Technical Officer Dr Andre Dekok and Standards and Procedure Officer Thormodur Thormodsson. They mentioned in their report that the draft version—not made public—was only read to them. They were not provided a copy of the draft report as it would violate CAA rules.

According to the ICAO report, the pilot was suffering from spatial disorientation. This condition occurs when a pilot is unable to correctly interpret the aircraft’s attitude (movement), altitude (height) or airspeed, in relation to the point of reference.

“The aircraft went out of the pilot’s control after it abruptly showed an altitude of 3,110ft a few seconds ahead of the incident. The final report contained 15 safety recommendations, which were not in accordance with the ICAO rules,” sources said, quoting the new report.

The sources added that according to ICAO experts, the final report wrongly mentioned that the family members of the crash victims were treated according to the ICAO guidelines.

The CAA’s report does not mention the weather conditions either, a crucial factor leading up to the crash. While the communication between the flight crew and the air traffic controllers is mentioned, no section in the final report was dedicated to communication, the experts said.

“ICAO experts also expressed concerns over the possibility of a conflict of interest since CAA investigation officials had made the report themselves,” sources said.

The Safety Investigation Board (SIB), a body which falls under the CAA, is responsible for investigating air accidents in Pakistan. Foreign experts were quoted as saying that the SIB is not an independent and impartial organisation and can not investigate in a transparent manner.

Sources requesting anonymity said that the ICAO termed the final report on CAA’s website as incomprehensive with no logical flow to explain the plane crash. It lacks factual information to support the claims, sources said. ICAO experts also said that they were denied access to crucial information regarding the flight crew.

The new report mentions that CAA’s investigation does not mention information on the status and maintenance of navigation aids, including runway lights at the time the incident occurred. The foreign experts were told that the draft report included such information.

The international investigators have recommended that the SIB should be turned into an independent entity to avoid misinformation and bureaucratic influences.

Salient points of the ICAO report

• The plane crashed after the pilot lost control
• The pilot was unable to correctly interpret the plane’s movement
• The CAA’s final report lacks vital information
• Foreign experts were denied flight crew information
• Information on maintenance of navigation aids is missing in the CAA’s report
• 15 safety recommendations were not in accordance with the ICAO’s guidelines

Source: tribune.com.pk

[jam2k94]

This mean CAA is trying to save some officials who may involve in this crash or?

[imiakhtar]

This mean CAA is trying to save some officials who may involve in this crash or?

Not really.

It's just that the ICAO inspectors have worded their report differently.

The CAA was right in concluding that it was the fault of the pilots. However, if you read reports of more reputable organisations, you will see a disclaimer along the lines of:

It is not the intention of this report to apportion blame or responsibility

The CAA was very blunt and direct with apportioning blame and that is where the difference lies.

Also, I'm not sure if there has been a loss in translation somewhere, but the pilots always had control of the aircraft, ie., it responded to their inputs.

[Abbas Ali]

ICAO dissatisfied with Airblue crash report

By Imran Ali Teepu

ISLAMABAD, Nov 10: The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has described as not comprehensive a report prepared by the Safety Investigation Board (SIB) and made public by the government about the Airblue plane crash.

The ICAO found that many of the findings did not have factual information to support them, Dawn learnt on Saturday.

An Airblue jetliner crashed into the Margalla hills on July 28, 2010, killing all 146 passengers and six crew members on board.

The ICAO members visited Pakistan after the Peshawar High Court issued orders on Jan 19 this year, dealing with the reopening of investigation. The court had directed the ministry of defence to submit the ICAO report by Nov 16. PML-N leader Marvi Memon is in litigation against the federal government on behalf of the crash victims, seeking a fresh probe into the crash.

According to a ministry of defence report made available to Dawn, the three-member ICAO accident investigation technical team, also acting as a fact-finding team, visited Pakistan from June 4 to June 8. The ministry’s report carried a copy of the ICAO report.

The ICAO in its report said that “accident investigation authority — SIB, as well as investigation process, is indeed not independent”.

It suggested the SIB independently revise the final report posted on the Civil Aviation Authority’s website in the interest of accident prevention and said the revised draft final report should be made available to the public.

In August last year, the federal government made the crash report public and the CAA posted it on its website in December.

The ICAO report said that its team was not provided a copy of the main report but was only allowed to examine it under the supervision of an investigator.

The ICAO report said: “Some of the factual information from various parts of the draft final report (main investigation report) and the analysis were removed and the revised draft final report was approved as the final report by the federal government and circulated for comments to international and domestic stakeholders as per international laws.”

It noted: “Final report contained the basic information of the aircraft and a statement that the aircraft had been airworthy to undertake the flight. Information about the maintenance of the aircraft, the mass and balance were missing. It was evident that the aircraft documentation was scrutinised during the investigation to assess the airworthiness of the aircraft, loading and maintenance history and no concerns were raised.”

The ICAO report highlighted that in the final report the basic information about the flight crew was available, but information about flight hours (experience of the staff), training and proficiency, route checks, medical history, duty and rest time, and personality profiles was missing.

The ICAO team maintained that final report provided a short description of medical and pathological information. It found that many of the findings did not have factual information to support them, and in other cases findings contained phrases which were typically analysis of factual information.

The ICAO team concluded that this was a result of the review process of the ministry of defence (which issued a reviewed draft report after the issuance of final report).

Source: DAWN

[Abbas Ali]

News report about November 14 court proceedings. No information whether ICAO report will be made available to public or not.

I hope court orders relevant authorities to make ICAO report available to news media and general public.

Safety Investigation Board’s autonomy: Court seeks CAA word on proposal

PESHAWAR, Nov 14: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday issued a notice to the Civil Aviation Authority for explanation on the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) recommendation for declaring the Safety Investigation Board (SIB) of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) fully autonomous.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser observed that CAA should explain why SIB should not be made fully autonomous so that it should not be under control and influence of any bureaucrat or the government.

Senior legal adviser to CAA Obaidur Rehman Abbasi said the Defence Ministry had already been working on legislation to make SIB of Civil Aviation Authority autonomous in accordance with the recommendation given by ICAO in its report regarding the 2010 Airblue plane crash, which had left all 152 people on board killed.

He said the report of ICAO had already been submitted to the court and the government, including CAA and the Defence Ministry, had been working on implementation of its recommendations.

Mr Abbasi said ICAO had recommended that CAA consider expediting the legislation process addressing the independence of the accident/incident investigation authority in Pakistan.

He said the Defence Ministry had already been working to do legislation in this regard as presently the SIB was part of CAA and was mentioned in the CAA Ordinance.

The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by former MNA Marvi Memon and family members of some of the passengers of the ill-fated plane which crashed on Jul 28, 2010.

They have prayed the court to order independent inquiry into the crash and provision of appropriate compensation to the bereaved families.

The re-investigation was conducted on the order of the high court. The court had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the previous inquiry conducted by the Safety Investigation Board of CAA wherein the errors by the pilot and inclement weather were held responsible for the air crash.Abdul Lateef Yousafzai, lawyer for Airblue management, said they had filed two petitions before the Supreme Court one of which was related to the jurisdiction of the Peshawar High Court regarding the Airblue plane crash as it had taken place in Islamabad.When the bench asked Mr Yousafzai he had never raised the objection before the high court, he replied that in his comments, he had questioned the jurisdiction of the high court.

He, however, hastened to add that Airblue implemented all the court’s orders, but the families of the dead passengers were the first to file suits with the Islamabad High Court (IHC), while the present petition was pending with PHC.

Mr Yousafzai said Airblue had so far paid compensation to 120 families and were ready to pay to others but they had engaged the airliner in lengthy litigation and they had been shuttling between PHC and IHC.

He requested the bench that as the issue was pending before the apex court, the hearing be adjourned for the time being. The bench decided to hear the petition again in the third week of Dec.

Source: DAWN

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Airblue hearing: PHC asks for black box transcript

January 18, 2013

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has asked the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) to present the transcript from the black box of Airblue flight ED 202.

The court added that investigations have not been conducted in accordance with the terms of references provided by the court.

A PHC division bench comprising Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaisar issued the orders while hearing a writ petition filed by politician Marvi Memon against the Airblue administration.

During the hearing, the bench was informed that since ICAO experts have highlighted that the Safety Investigation Board (SIB) is not an independent entity since it falls within the ambit of the Civil Aviation Authority, it will soon be converted into an separate body.

The summary in this regard has been sent to the prime minister. The CJ then directed the Ministry of Defence to expedite the procedure and immediately make SIB an independent body to ensure transparent investigation into aviation accidents. “The SIB should not even be influenced by the defence secretary,” he said.

Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) senior legal advisor Obaidur Rehman Abbasi told the bench that all relevant records will be produced before the court on the next date of hearing, February 19. He said all material will be made public after a meeting between officials of the Ministry of Defence, SIB and CAA on January 28.

The Islamabad-bound ED 202 Airblue flight crashed in the Margalla Hills on July 28, 2010 killing all 146 passengers and six crew members.

Compensation to legal heirs

Compensation to legal heirs Airblue’s Counsel Abdul Latif Yousafzai informed the bench that families of 127 crash victims out of 152 have been compensated.

Yousafzai added the civil suits of other victims were registered in Sindh and Islamabad high courts too. On this, the court questioned Umar Adam, counsel for the petitioner, who replied that he will consult his clients and will inform the bench in the next hearing about whether to proceed with the petition in Peshawar or solve their cases in other high courts.

Source: tribune.com.pk

PHC directs CAA to produce communication record

Friday, January 18, 2013

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday directed the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to produce the recording of exchange of information between the pilot and control tower in the case of the AirBlue plane crash, which had left all the 152 people on board dead.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Mrs Justice Irshad Qaiser also directed the Ministry of Defence to immediately act upon the summary sent to the prime minister for approval about declaring the Safety Investigation Board of CAA fully autonomous.

Senior Legal Adviser to CAA Obaidur Rehman Abbasi informed the bench that as per the court directives, the CAA had sent a summary to the premier for approval on making the Safety Investigation Board an autonomous body.

He also informed the bench that as per the court’s directives, a high-level meeting was convened on January 28 to review the fresh investigation report in the AirBlue plane crash by the international experts.

He submitted the materials that were included in the detailed inquiry and were missing on website inquiry would also be placed on the CAA website.

He said that under the inquiry, the incident occurred due to the fault of the pilot. At this, the chief justice observed that it was stated in the international experts’ inquiry that wrong statements were mentioned in the inquiry report available on the website.

The chief justice had observed that the CAA should explain why the Safety Investigation Board should not be made fully autonomous so that it should not be under the control and influence of any bureaucrat or the government.

The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by former MNA Marvi Memon and family members of some of the passengers of the ill-fated plane, which crashed on July 28, 2010. They have prayed the court to order independent inquiry into the crash and provision of appropriate compensation to the bereaved families.

The re-investigation was conducted on the order of the high court. The court had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over the previous inquiry conducted by the Safety Investigation Board of CAA wherein the errors by the pilot and inclement weather were held responsible for the air crash.

Source: The News

Autonomy of CAA safety board Defence ministry directed to expedite legislation

PESHAWAR, Jan 17: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday directed the defence ministry to expedite legislation for making the Safety and Investigation Board (SIB) of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) an independent and autonomous body.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Irshad Qaiser asked the ministry to ensure that no one from CAA or PIA and even the defence secretary should have any administrative control on SIB.

Also, CAA was told to produce certified transcript of the commu-nication and conversation made by the pilot of the Airblue plane, which crashed in July 2010, with different control towers, including that of Islamabad`s airport and radar staff.

The bench issued the order after observing that the re-investigation report prepared by international aviation experts and submitted to the court was incomplete as the terms of reference formulated by the high court were not answered nor was the script of the communication and conversation by the deceased pilot of the plane with different control towers and radar staff annexed with it.

It was hearing a writ petition offormer MNA Marvi Memon and relatives of some passengers of the plane, which crashed on July 28, 2010.

They have prayed the court to order independent inquiry into the crash and also provision of appropriate compensation to the bereaved families.

In Nov last, the bench had ordered that the CAA should explain why the SIB should not be made fully autonomous so that it should not be under control and influence of any bureaucrat and government in accordance with the recommendations of a team of International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Senior legal director of CAAObaidur Rehman Abbasi and defence ministry lawyer Tanveerul Islam informed the court on Tuesday that a summary prepared by the defence ministry had been referred to the prime minister for approval. They added that after approval, rules would be framed by the defence ministry.

The two submitted a copy of the said summary to the bench that states the independence of SIB of CAA and making it as AIC (Accident Investigation Commission) in line with the guidelines of ICAO involves a number of changes not only in the Civil Aviation Rules 1994 but establishment of an organisational set up.Mr Abbasi said the Airblue plane crash was not outcome of any conspiracy and it was due to the error of the pilot, the fact which was also endorsed by the international experts. He added that CAA was among the top 10 aviation authorities in the world.Mr Abbasi said CAA had not been compromising safety of flights. He added that it had been engaged in litigation with the district coordination officer (now deputy commissioner) of Chitral, who had been building a house within 350 feet of the airstrip, which was in violation of the National Airfield Clearance Policy.

Also, the bench gave time to lawyer for petitioners OmerFarooq Adam to consult their clients whether they want to withdraw their civil suits filed with the Islamabad High Court and continue with the present petition or not.

Abdul Lateef Yousafzai, representing the Airblue management, contended that they had paid compensation to majority of the legal heirs of the deceased passengers and only few were left as they had filed civil suits before the Islamabad High Court. He asked how compensation of Rs five million could be paid to these persons on the order of the PHC when they had started fresh round of litigation in Islamabad.

Source: DAWN

[jam2k94]

Today evening on news on Geo it was reported that the cause of this crash was not only pilot error but CAA officers were also involved because they were from PAF and were not capable to handle the situation for civil flights in that circumstances. CAA accepted this point and said according to international rules the ATC must refuse the landing and divert them to other airport.

The link of this news missing from Geo website now.

If someone have sny update.

[cashy]

Same news according to daily Pakistan:

پشاور(مانیٹرنگ ڈیسک)اڑھائی سال پہلے تباہ ہونے والے نجی کمپنی ایئر بلیو کے جہاز کے حادثے کا ذمہ دار سول ایوی ایشن کو بھی قراردیدیا گیا ہے اور اس ضمن میں رپورٹ عدالتِ عالیہ میں پیش کردی گئی ہے جس کے مطابق اس حادثے کا ذمہ دار صرف پائلٹ نہیں بلکہ ایئر ٹریفک کنٹرول بھی مناسب معلومات بروقت فراہم کرنے میں ناکام رہا۔جولائی2010ءمیں پیش آنے والے اس حادثے میں عملے کے چھ اراکان اور 146مسافروں میں سے کوئی بھی زندہ نہیں بچا تھا ، پشاور ہائیکورٹ میں پیش کی جانے والی تحقیقاتی رپورٹ میں کہا گیا ہے کہ ائیر بلیو حادثے کی ذمہ داری صرف پائلٹ پر عائد نہیں ہوتی ہے۔حادثے کے وقت ریڈار اور کنٹرول ٹاورموثر طریقے سے کام نہیں کررہے تھے۔ رپورٹ میں بتایا گیا کہ ریڈ ار سسٹم طیارے کے عملے کو موسم سے متعلق ہدایات نہیں دے سکا۔ ڈیو ٹی پر تعینات ائیر کنٹرولر بھی تربیت یافتہ نہیںتھا اور وہ طیارے کے کیپٹن کو مناسب رہنمائی فراہم نہیںکرسکا۔رپورٹ میں کہا گیا کہ ٹاور کنٹرول حادثے کو روکنے کے لیے اقدامات نہیں کرسکا اور سینئر ٹاور کنٹرولر حادثے سے بچاﺅ کے لیے معلومات دینے میں ناکام رہا

[Abbas Ali]

Related news reports.

Fresh inquiry holds weather, pilot & ATC responsible

Akhtar Amin
Friday, March 29, 2013

PESHAWAR: The fresh inquiry report of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in the Airblue plane crash has revealed that besides the pilot and inclement weather, the air traffic controller (ATC) of the control tower was also responsible for the air crash, which claimed the lives of all 152 people onboard.

The CAA on Thursday submitted its 25-page inquiry report to a division bench comprising PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah.

The president of CAA’s Safety Investigation Board, Air Commodore Muhammad Abdul Basit, CAA senior legal adviser Obaidur Rehman Abbasi, Abdul Shakoor Paracha, lawyer for CAA director general, and Tanvirul Islam, counsel for Defence Ministry, appeared in the case and presented the report.

The court had earlier expressed dissatisfaction with the previous inquiry conducted by the Safety Investigation Board of CAA wherein errors by the pilot and inclement weather were held responsible for the air crash.

However, the fresh inquiry report also held the ATC responsible for the crash as both the radar and ATC could have brought the aircraft out of this situation by rendering assistance. It accused the ATC of lack of knowledge, training and ambiguous procedures in the type of scenario the aircraft was flying in the last phase of flight.

The report stated that the aircrew failed to display superior judgment and professional skills in a self-created unsafe environment. It said that in their pursuit to land in an inclement weather, they committed serious violations of procedures and breaches of flying disciplines, which put the aircraft in an unsafe condition over dangerous terrain at low altitude. However, the report also said the negligence and little experience of the ATC in the control tower was also responsible for the air crash.

According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) experts’ report conducted on the high court order, the pilot was suffering from spatial disorientation. This condition occurs when a pilot is unable to correctly interpret the aircraft’s attitude (movement), altitude (height) or airspeed, in relation to the point of reference.

“The aircraft went out of the pilot’s control after it abruptly showed an altitude of 3,110 ft a few seconds ahead of the incident. The ICAO report contained 15 safety recommendations, which were not in accordance with the ICAO rules.

The Safety Investigation Board (SIB), a body, which falls under the CAA, is responsible for investigating air accidents in Pakistan. The foreign experts stated that the SIB is not an independent and impartial organisation and cannot investigate in a transparent manner and suggested to be made as independent from the CAA.

The bench adjourned the case and directed the CAA officials to present the CAA recommendations in the light of the inquiry reports for avoiding such incidents in future and ensuring passengers and aircraft safety in future.

Source: The News

New CAA report blames PAF controllers for Airblue crash

Zahir Shah Sherazi

PESHAWAR: In a major development in the July 28, 2010 Airblue Blue crash case, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in its report for the first time has disclosed other factors contributing to the accident apart from pilot’s fault and bad weather.

Incompetence and lack of qualification/experience of the staff at the Air Control Towers and non-availability of Radar Monitoring Terminal and the ATC Tower were cited as other reasons which resulted in the loss of precious lives.

The twenty-five page report, prepared by the President Security Investigation Board Headquarters Civil Aviation Authority Air Commodore Abdul Basit, was presented Thursday before a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court comprising Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Syed Afsar Shah by the Legal Advisor of the CAA, Obaidur Rehman Abbasi.

The Airblue Flight 202, which had taken off from Karachi 10 minutes to eight in the morning on July 28, 2010, crashed into Islamabad’s Margalla hills, killing all 152 people on board.

The report also revealed that number of irregularities were observed related to competence, qualification and internationally recommended criteria for deployment of Air Traffic Control.

It remarks that the present arrangement of providing procedural control service by control tower is not only contrary to ICAO standards and recommended practices but is also highly unsafe as military controllers are neither trained nor in practice to handle such situations.

According to the report, a copy of which has been obtained by Dawn.Com, says: “The terrain of Margalla Hills is not marked on the radar scope in order to avoid scope of congestion and distraction in maintaining identity of the air craft, However a map of minimum sector altitude (MSA) is displayed in Radar Unit. “

It says that another important equipment based inadequacy was observed in the shape of non availability of radar monitoring terminal in the Air Traffic Control Tower.

It further adds that the Duty Controller being from PAF and BBIAP Islamabad was not qualified (as per ICAO SARPS) to handle civil traffic and he did not possess the requisite qualification/qualifications like completion of ICAO Basic ATC course from ICAO recognised institute, he had not undergone on job training (OJT) under the supervision of qualified civil controller. However he was qualified to handle military traffic as per record available with the PAF.

The report holding the air controller responsible also reveals that the duty controller at Islamabad tower was not authorised by CAA competent Authority to perform independent duties to control civil traffic, adding, “the duty controller at Islamabad Tower was also not authorized by the CAA Categorization Board.”

The report, by further highlighting the faults on the part of the ground staff, also reveals that the duty controller at Islamabad Tower was the junior most officer (14 months service) in the shift having less experience to handle such a complex situation (severity of bad weather).

The report says that most of the controllers on PAF as well as CAA side were not aware and clear about the modus operandi in case of radar operation.

It further remarks that the present arrangement of providing procedural control service by control tower is not only contrary to ICAO standards and recommended practices but is also highly unsafe as military controllers are neither trained nor in practice to handle such situations.

The CAA report also highlights that the Captain displayed signs of anxiety, tiredness, pre-occupation, confusion, nervousness and geographical disorientation in various phases of flight after commencement of descent while it the report’s findings also says that the aircraft had ended up in a dangerous situation because of most non professional and complacent handling by the captain.

Though the captain and the bad weather had always been considered the main reasons for the crash at Margalla Hills, the report also reveals that the ICAO procedures being a joint user airport (PAG and PCCA) were not being exercised in letter and spirit at Benazir International Airport Islamabad.

The important aspect of the report is that the experienced and competent controller available at the tower, instead of taking over the control of the traffic, had let the junior controller to continue handling aerodrome traffic in severe inclement weather conditions.

The court subsequently adjourned the hearing till April 30 and directed Air Commodore Basit to submit the details of the safety measures of the board in detail to make it part of the case.

Source: DAWN

Abbas

[TAILWIND]

................that the cause of this crash was not only pilot error but CAA officers were also involved because they were from PAF and were not capable to handle the situation for civil flights in that circumstances. ..........

Rubbish