Pak Air-Crash Probe: Pilots of PIA plane were not focused, discussing coronavirus crisis

The pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane that crashed last month weren’t focussed and that they were discussing coronavirus during the flight, the country’s aviation minister told Parliament on Wednesday as he acknowledged their “overconfidence and lack of concentration” as a number of the explanations for the tragedy that killed 97 people on board.

The flight from Lahore to Karachi crashed during a residential district near the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on May 22.

The Airbus A320 aircraft of the national carrier had 91 passengers and a crew of eight when it crashed into the Jinnah Garden area near Model Colony in Malir on Friday, minutes before its landing. One girl died on the bottom after suffering burn injuries.

Two passengers miraculously survived the crash.

Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan presented the interim investigation report on the PIA plane crash within the National Assembly, saying that the pilots weren’t focused and their lack of concentration had caused the crash.
Human error by the pilots and traffic control caused the crash of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane, he said.

The minister said that the pilots had ignored the instructions of the traffic control on the peak of the aircraft.

“The pilots and therefore the ATC both didn’t follow the protocol,” he said.

“The pilot ignored the instructions of the traffic controllers and therefore the ATC, on the opposite hand, didn’t inform the pilot about the engine colliding.

“The pilots were discussing corona throughout the flight. They weren’t focussed. They talked about corona […] their families were affected. When the tower asked him to extend the plane’s height, the pilot said ‘I’ll manage’. There was overconfidence,” he said.

Sarwar said that the cabin crew and ATC were also liable for the tragedy.

“Those who are responsible are going to be held accountable,” he said, promising that the entire investigation report are going to be presented in one year’s time.

Sarwar said that the initial report acknowledged that there was no technical fault with the aircraft and even the pilot had not said an equivalent in his conversation with the traffic controllers.

The minister noted that the aircraft touched the runway thrice without the undercarriage which caused damage to its engines.
“When the plane took off again, both its engines had been damaged,” he said.