KARACHI: *New stunning Revelations surface in the investigations of thecrashed PIA plane in Karachi.*
The on-duty air traffic controller and the approach tower controller toldthe Air Investigation Board that the pilot of PK-8303 ignored the repeatedinstructions, causing the death of 97 people in a subsequent crash nearKarachi airport last week.
The written reply to AIB said that on May 22, PK 8303 was handled by theApproach Tower Controller from Lahore to Karachi. The task of landing theaircraft was then transferred to ATC, 10 nautical miles before landing.They claimed that the captain ignored instructions given 10 nautical milesbefore landing.
The approach controller said that before landing, when the plane is usuallyat an altitude of 1800 feet, the captain was flying at an altitude of 3000feet and even after repeated instructions, the captain maintained that hewould manage altitude and speed before landing.
The ATC further said that the captain landed the plane for the first timewithout opening the landing gear. On the first landing, both enginescollided with the runway and rubbed against it three times and causedsparking before the captain pulled the plane back up and asked forpermission to land again.
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According to sources, the investigation team questioned the ATC and theapproach tower controllers whether the captain had signalled for anemergency landing, to which they replied that the captain did not declareto attempt an emergency landing and insisted that he would land normally.
Earlier in the day, Pakistan Airline Pilots Association (PALPA) on Tuesdayprotested against the alleged leak of details of a probe into the PakistanInternational Airlines (PIA) plane crash incident.
