New stunning Revelations surface in the investigations of the crashed PIA plane in Karachi
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KARACHI: *New stunning Revelations surface in the investigations of the crashed PIA plane in Karachi.*
The on-duty air traffic controller and the approach tower controller told the Air Investigation Board that the pilot of PK-8303 ignored the repeated instructions, causing the death of 97 people in a subsequent crash near Karachi airport last week.
The written reply to AIB said that on May 22, PK 8303 was handled by the Approach Tower Controller from Lahore to Karachi. The task of landing the aircraft was then transferred to ATC, 10 nautical miles before landing. They claimed that the captain ignored instructions given 10 nautical miles before landing.
The approach controller said that before landing, when the plane is usually at an altitude of 1800 feet, the captain was flying at an altitude of 3000 feet and even after repeated instructions, the captain maintained that he would manage altitude and speed before landing.
The ATC further said that the captain landed the plane for the first time without opening the landing gear. On the first landing, both engines collided with the runway and rubbed against it three times and caused sparking before the captain pulled the plane back up and asked for permission to land again.
According to sources, the investigation team questioned the ATC and the approach tower controllers whether the captain had signalled for an emergency landing, to which they replied that the captain did not declare to attempt an emergency landing and insisted that he would land normally.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) on Tuesday protested against the alleged leak of details of a probe into the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash incident.
