AirBlue jet down in Islamabad

[Abbas Ali]

With 152 human casualties AirBlue accident appears to be worst passenger aircraft accident to happen in Pakistan, according to numbers given on leading aviation safety website aviation-safety.net .

Abbas

[Pineapple]

When FDR is recovered it will tell us if at the time of crash captain was aware or it happened in an instant without him knowing. I think A-321 being a modern aircraft, ground proximity warning terrain terrain pull up pull up! must have sounded if the first scenario.

[imranzul]

A terrible tragedy, my thoughts and prayers with the victims and their families.

I would like to rephrase Moin's question, no speculating but trying to get my head around this tragedy,

If landing at Islamabad runway 12, does the flight path take you where the plane crashed? I mean was the plane at wrong place or at the right place but wrong altitude?

Relating to geographical features, normally in a circle to land approach the aircraft passes between rawal lake and zero point starts turning left and some where over F-9 park or even before that starts heading towards the runway and over police lines is aligned with rwy 12 for landing.
With going into the causes, indeed the aircraft was far too north in a circle to land approach pattern

Just quoting from another forum on this incident - the circle to land runway 12 Procedure-

"The procedure is you fly the ILS to 30 then break-off and turn right and then fly the arc downwind to land on 12.
You are probably wondering why not break off to the left, away from the Margalla hills. Well to the left is a military airbase (Dhamial) and the Headquarters of the Army (GHQ) and that is all restricted airspace."

Another quoted ATC as saying
"ATC tapes being described as telling the pilots that they had gone out of the circling radius, pilots replied back with rwy in sight."

Again these are from PPRUNE.org so dont quote me or take any fact from this rumour/speculation.

[Moin]

You can hardly see any wreckage, just a big black hole in the side of the hill. Usually the tail and sometimes part of the wing are identifiable but not even in this case. That plane must have been flying pretty fast, unless parts of the wreckage slid down the side of the hill.

There is also more and more talk about the 'no fly' zone. I hope they don't try covering anything up.

[Boomin Bomber IJ]

Personally what I think has happened is that AP-BJB has been requested/requested to go-around. Whilst going around, the visibility got even lower due to the rain and fog. The pilots continue to descend into the hills. When they did eventually see the hills infront of them, it was too late to save the doomed plane.

Such a tradegy. My condolences are with the families of the dead.

Arslaan.

People die everyday but air crashes do have a very depressing effect. May Allah give steadfastness to those who are left behind and the courage to bear their losses.

Crashes always happen due to human error; whether it was a bad decision by the pilot or the air control; whether there was a maintenance or a security lapse on the ground has to be determined. Hope they do let the public know the real reason.

I fail to understand why they still have a visual approach on 12 when that almost invariably is used during bad weather? I live towards 30 side and whenever planes start taking off 12 -> 30 it usually announces oncoming rain or at least a windstorm.

Thanks,
BB

[hasan saleem]

Also heard on that the F/O was a lady and it was her second flight !?

[oxon]

Mr. Aasim,( friend of the member of my family ) suppose to be the captain of this a/c , was withdrawn on the last moment .... [-o< lucky man !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Boomin Bomber IJ]

Mr. Aasim,( friend of the member of my family ) suppose to be the captain of this a/c , was withdrawn on the last moment .... [-o< lucky man !!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is another side of the picture that does not present such a lucky image. It is quite possible if he had been the skipper, 152 people would not have lost their lives!

[umar744]

sad sorry my old friend capt. pervaiz iqbal chaudhry of house 56-W Phase III DHA Lahore Cantt near my parent's home W555 died crashed AirBlue A321 AP-BJB. He flew PIA from 1969 to 2008 then joined AirBlue contract till 26 Dec 2010 he will be 62 years old retired on 27 Dec 2010. Very sorry sympathetic to Capt.Pervaiz's wife and four sons and one daughter. I flew with him many times PIA 747 LHE LHR LHE also my father flew with him long time ago. I will find photo of him and send to Historyofpia. I have requested Historyofpia to put his picture of PIA pilot here hopefully. Yes I flew my TG A333 new brand HS-TEP very bad weather to LHE diverted to Dubai then Karachi then flew to LHE then tonight I fly back to BKK. Yes very bad weather last Monday and yesterday.

[Abbas Ali]

AirBlue flight ED-202 passenger list available on Natonal Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) website www.ndma.gov.pk.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

CAA has released details of initial report and according to initial report:

* The aircraft was flying lower than given altitude.

* Weather and visibility was poor in the area.

* The aircraft took wrong turn. Instead of taking right turn, the aircraft took left turn and crashed into Margalla Hills.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Ill-fated flight's First Officer Muntajib was a former PAF fighter pilot. He had joined AirBlue recently, according to news reports.

Abbas

[imranzul]

Mr. Aasim,( friend of the member of my family ) suppose to be the captain of this a/c , was withdrawn on the last moment .... [-o< lucky man !!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is another side of the picture that does not present such a lucky image. It is quite possible if he had been the skipper, 152 people would not have lost their lives!

This is true also, but there are many "what ifs" in life. Remember pilots do not usually get a second chance one mistake is all it takes, and until a report is published - if that will ever occur - then the true facts will be known. So lets not, as so many of us are doing - attribute blame so early on.

[shoaib484]

A very tragic day indeed. May Allah bless all the departed souls and provide comfort to the grieving families.
Just curious though that how can a technologically advance aircraft such as the A-321 with such an experienced pilot at the helm can just go astray while going around due to any reason, be it missed approach or whatever. Was there any lightning in the area which may have disrupted the Electronic display units? I don't know what backup analog instruments this aircraft had but i just cant imagine the aircraft losing its way just due to rain.

[imranzul]

Apparently the aircraft strayed out of the "arc" on approach to rwy 12