Bhoja Air Flight crashes on final approach to Islamabad Airport.

[Aragorn]

Pakistan orders new plane inspections after crash


Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority is set to start safety inspections of all airplanes operated by private airlines, days after a crash killed 127 people.

On Sunday the government ordered all such airliners to undergo new safety tests.

The Bhoja Air Boeing 737, which had flown from Karachi, crashed on its approach to Islamabad's airport.

The funerals of some of those killed in the crash took place in the southern city of Karachi on Sunday.

The plane came down during bad weather in the village of Hussain Abad on the outskirts of Islamabad on Friday evening, scattering debris over a wide area.

The head of Bhoja Air has been barred from leaving the country pending the outcome of an official inquiry into the disaster.

The flight's data recorder has been recovered and has been sent for analysis.

Safety questions
"The defence minister has ordered a shake down inspection for all the private airlines," Pervez George, head of Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority, told the AFP news agency.

"So all the private airplanes will undergo a re-inspection but without disturbing their flight schedule," he added.

Correspondents say some people have called into question Pakistan's system of regulating air safety.

Friday's crash is the second deadly air crash in Pakistan in recent years.

In July 2010, an Airblue Airbus A321 crashed as it was about to land in Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board - Pakistan's worst-ever air disaster.

Bhoja Air is a small commercial airline that started domestic flights in 1993. It suspended operations in 2001 because of financial difficulties but recently re-opened.

Although Pakistan's air industry has been booming, critics say standards have not always kept pace with the increase in services.

BBC News - Pakistan orders new plane inspections after crash

 

[Safriz]

American ***** strikes again...


Boeing investigation team stopped from traveling to \Pakistan,,,,,,,,on security grounds..

they got their own Private army stationed in Islamabad embassy....

pathetic...

 

[Safriz]

Bhoja Air's two remaining Aircraft's Airworthiness certificates suspended for further inspections.

 

[Jango]

This ill fated aircraft was on a 40,000 $ lease per month.

Just says alot about the quality of the plane.

BTW< the investigators have concluded that the plane did indeed disintegrate in the air, and did not drag on the ground, because no marks are visible that the plane came to a screeching halt in the ground, no trails or anything.

I was watching Kamran Khan show tonight, and he said, was the CAA AT controller at fault possibly? And I did a huge face-palm, these media people now a days need to keep sensationalism aside sometimes.

An airline needs 3 air worthy aircraft to remain operational according to CAA rules, but Bhoja currently only has 2 aircraft in it's fleet, but is still continuing operations. Violation???

And only 10% shares are held by Bhoja himself, 90% are of another family, the man has around 50%, his wife and son have the rest.!

 

[fatman17]

very sad news indeed.....RIP the victims of the crash.

when such airlines are allowed to operate without a proper audit of safety and maintenance standards by the CAA, then such sad incidents are bound to happen. why wasnt the a/c diverted to pwe or lahore or lyallpur if the weather was bad. isnt it normal practice. PIA pilots have the on-board authority to take such decisions....did the bojha capt have this authority? probably not because such airlines cannot afford to divert their aircraft due to profit margins...so they play with people's lives!

met an ex-PAF officer who is an instructor pilot and a certified accident safety offier, trained in the UK. according to him, there is so much 'bullshit' being said and written in our media/press. the capt. was not allowed to divert the a/c (not due to bad weather) but due to the additional costs to be incurred by bhoja (due to diversion). other a/c were landing before and after the air crash. further the CAA has also to be blamed for this. we will never know for sure as people will start CTA (covering their as***)

 

[Jango]

met an ex-PAF officer who is an instructor pilot and a certified accident safety offier, trained in the UK. according to him, there is so much 'bullshit' being said and written in our media/press. the capt. was not allowed to divert the a/c (not due to bad weather) but due to the additional costs to be incurred by bhoja (due to diversion). other a/c were landing before and after the air crash. further the CAA has also to be blamed for this. we will never know for sure as people will start CTA (covering their as***)

Nothing new here.

It is a well known fact within the industry that a PIA pilot, and Emirates pilot can divert his plane. But the kind of pressure private airline pilots (AIrBlue, Shaheen etc) are, does not allow them to divert. Aik to petrol ka kharcha, maintenance costs alag, landing charges alag, slot lena alag, hotel ka karaya alag. So, the pilots say, o yarr, thora sa aur agay ho kar dekhtay hain, shayed badal nikal hi jaye (CB clouds remain in the area for a short time).

The ATC rules might need to be tweaked as well, and also the general practices. ATC should be given the authority to order the pilot to divert, rather than advise him (which currently happens).

 

[Jango]

Geo News had a ticker running about the last conversations of the Air Blue pilots, and the Captain repeatedly ignores his first officer and ATC.

 

[longbrained]

Geo News had a ticker running about the last conversations of the Air Blue pilots, and the Captain repeatedly ignores his first officer and ATC.

Old news. Though CVR was never released publicly but it is said in investigation that the attitude of the Captain was arrogant and he was snobbish towards warnings from his first officer co-pilot and ATC ignoring their warnings that mountains were ahead by replying in effect that "he knows better". He even ignored the computer warnings of the A321 ground proximity warning systems which are considered very modern in aviation and it was the only fatal crash of a A321 in history.

I guess that is in our culture to be arrogant and not listen to others. Even in emergency situations.

 

[Jango]

Old news. Though CVR was never released publicly but it is said in investigation that the attitude of the Captain was arrogant and he was snobbish towards warnings from his first officer co-pilot and ATC ignoring their warnings that mountains were ahead by replying in effect that "he knows better". He even ignored the computer warnings of the A321 ground proximity warning systems which are considered very modern in aviation and it was the only fatal crash of a A321 in history.

I guess that is in our culture to be arrogant and not listen to others. Even in emergency situations.

This was known before, but what I found interesting was the way he spoke it, 'Mujhay nazr araha hai, ATC ko nay do' etc etc.

Arrogant attitude it was, but the manner in which he spoke with first officer, I found it really appalling.

 

[alibaz]

Geo News had a ticker running about the last conversations of the Air Blue pilots, and the Captain repeatedly ignores his first officer and ATC.

So unfortunate that the captain was time and again Warned by ATC and copilot

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

an Op-Ed/Letter by Air Marshal (retd.) Ayaz Ahmad Khan, on the subject of Bhoja Air tragedy, accountability, flight safety, etc.

Lot of rubbish is being published. without knowledge of vital flight safety requirements and pilots responsibility and the responsibility of the air traffic controllers in the control tower. According to Director General of the Met Department, two weather warnings were issued and duly communicated to the concerned Civil Aviation authorities. The Air Traffic Controllers on duty at Benazir Bhutto International Airport were surely duly informed of the bad weather prevailing at the time.

The first weather warning was issued by the Meterological department at 3PM and the second at 6PM. Thunder and lightening was forecast and was being seen by the officials in the Tower, who should have advised and ordered Captain Afridi the Boeing -737 pilot to divert to Lahore or Peshawar. Air Traffic officials at Chaklala had the authority to divert the Bhoja flight. The Black Box, which has been recovered intact will reveal as to the advice about the bad weather given to Captain Afridi. If despite being informed of the very adverse weather at the time, Captain Afridi pressed on to land the aircraft, then he was fully responsible for the grave consequences and the death of 127 people. However if the Black Box reveals that the Captain was not informed, then the Air Traffic officials on duty at the time must be brought to justice for the grave loss life and property.

Benazir Bhutto International Airport has first class radars to guide and monitor flights. Evidence of the radar controllers will be vital to the evidence of dangerous weather prevailing at the time. The Air Blue Accident in July 2010 was avoidable. It was due to human factor-pilot error, and poor monitoring of the flight by inefficient radar and air-traffic controllers. In my article on the Air Blue crash, I had clearly established these facts. The enquiry had dragged on for months and years, for no reason at all. The Bhoja B-737 crash enquiries by a Judicial Commission and Technical Commission is in order. I hope time is not wasted.

The Bhoja Airlines B 737-200 was fully airworthy. It had flown for over two hours from Karachi to Islamabad, and was about to touch down when it suddenly went down as a fireball into the ground. The stories that the B-737 was hit by hail, and lightening and therefore exploded in the air are not logical. Thousands of Boeing 737 - 200, 300 and 400 models are flying with hundreds of airlines worldwide. Some domestic airlines in America have hundreds of these on their inventory. The B-737 had an outstanding record of technical reliability and flight safety. To say that it was a 27 year old jetliner and unfit for flying is based more on emotion than on the safety record of this fine aircraft. There should not be any witch hunting based on the ill conceived motive of tarnishing Bhoja Airline. Bhoja has a fine record of safety, when it was flying Russian passenger aircraft till 2000.

My reasoning is based on 30 years of flying experience, during which I have flown fighter and bomber aircraft. I have flown in overcast weather during Monsoons. I have flown over the Mediterranan and landed at RAF Base Akrotiri in Cyprus in bad weather. I have flown in weather over British, German, Turkish and Iranian skies. Flying is very safe, when airline captains are fully cognizant of the safety of passengers. Equally vital is the sense of responsibility or air traffic controllers and radar controllers. I hope we learn a hard lesson from two major airline flying accidents.


AIR MARSHAL (RETD) AYAZ AHMED KHAN,

Lahore, April 23.

Bhoja airlines crash | The Nation

 

[Jango]

I dont think that ATC has authority to order a pilot, the final call rests with the Captain of a commercial jet.

Some media persons are blaming the CAA ATC , but reality check fools, Chaklala ATC is controlled by PAF, not CAA.

No plane in the world can predict windshear, except A380, and the only way a ATC can predict it is through met office, or through small probes laid out around an airfield, that is how it is in Isl. Small probes lie scattered all over the area, and they predict windhsear

 

[Al Bhatti]

Apr 26, 2012

Widower tells of grief over losing wife in recent air crash

Izhar Ul Haq was waiting in Karachi to board a flight back to Abu Dhabi on April 20 when he heard that a Bhoja Air flight had crashed.

Just a few hours earlier he had watched at Jinnah International Airport as his wife Rakhshanda, 25, boarded Flight 213 for Islamabad.

After finding her seat, she called her husband to say goodbye.

"She told me that she was in the middle seat with people sitting on either side," he said. "She told me to take care of myself and call her regularly. That was our last conversation.

"We had a great time at the airport together before she boarded the flight. We spoke a lot and took many pictures. I showed her the plane she would be flying on.

"She appeared a bit gloomy and said that she worried she would not be able to see me again. I don't know why she said that."

It was a cousin in Abu Dhabi who first called Izhar to tell him a plane had crashed.

"He asked me which flight my wife was travelling on and when I told him about the name of the plane, he said it had crashed," he said.

"I collapsed in the airport. It was the worst moment of my life."

Later, other relatives and friends began calling Izhar to tell him about the crash and ask after Rakhshanda.

The Bhoja Air flight, with 127 passengers onboard, crashed near Rawalpindi just 10 minutes before its scheduled landing time of 6.50pm. There were no survivors.

"I still had hope my wife would be alive," Izhar said. "It was only in the morning that I came to know that she was dead.

"I waited all night in the airport, praying for her safety. Then I took a flight to Islamabad in the morning and saw her body."

Izhar first saw Rakhshanda at a relative's house in 2006.

"I liked her a lot. She looked nice and friendly," he said. "Later on we met each other a number of times and it was my elder brother who finalised everything and arranged our marriage."

More than 200 people attended their 2008 wedding in his native Swabi district, about 100 kilometres outside Islamabad.

"It was the happiest day of my life. We went shopping three days before marriage. She bought me a ring and I gave her necklace and bracelet. She was very happy."

Izhar, who works as an office clerk at Tetra Emirates in Abu Dhabi, had been on holiday with Rakhshanda in Karachi.

"She always wanted to come to the UAE and stay with me but she couldn't due to financial difficulties," he said.

"She was a good wife: a well-wisher and a good friend. I loved her more than my life. I can't imagine living without her."

When he eventually returns to the UAE, Izhar will have the support of his brother, Mohammed Zaman, who works at a construction company in Abu Dhabi.

"He is devastated," said Mohammed. "He loved her so much and remembers her all the time. We are trying to console him to overcome the tragedy."

Bhoja Air began domestic operations in Pakistan in 1993 and expanded to running international flights to the UAE in 1998.

The company suspended operations in 2001 due to financial difficulties but resumed this year.

The plane Rakhshanda was on was a 28-year-old Boeing 737-200, a civil aviation authority (CAA) official told AFP.

Pervez George, a spokesman for the CAA, said investigations into the crash had begun.

"A senior member is heading the probe and we will soon know the results of the investigation," Mr George said, adding the authority had launched a comprehensive inspection of aeroplanes being flown by private Pakistani airlines, including those flying to the UAE.

"All private airline flights are being inspected," he said.

For Izhar, the inspections come too late.

"My life is destroyed. I don't know if I will ever be able to get back on track and become normal."

Widower tells of grief over losing wife in recent air crash - The National

 

[Abu Zolfiqar]

such a terrible, tragic story......such a needless and un-neccesary accident that could have been avoided...should have been


heads must roll......somebody MUST be held accountable here.

 

[Jango]

such a terrible, tragic story......such a needless and un-neccesary accident that could have been avoided...should have been


heads must roll......somebody MUST be held accountable here.

The current practices should be changed more than anything.

The Bhoja air 10% stake holder was put on ECL, somebody give me the reason why? Political pressure.