Air crash report.

THE preliminary report into the PK-8303 air crash largely bears out earlier suspicions; but it has also thrown up more questions. Some of them, it is hoped, will be answered in the final report as this is an ongoing investigation, and little to no analysis can be expected at this point. Other questions, pertaining to more fundamental aspects of commercial aviation in Pakistan, are not part of the investigation's purview but they demand a separate, brutally honest, solution-driven inquiry. PK-8303 was flying from Lahore to Karachi on May 22 when it crashed 1,340m from the runway threshold in its second attempt at landing. The first one had seen it come in with its landing gear retracted, engines furiously scraping the tarmac and sparks flying. The pilots' decision to do a 'go around' turned out to be disastrous because, as per the report, the engines show evidence of having been damaged in the belly landing. The aircraft, unable to maintain the required height, crashed minutes later in a nearby residential locality. Ninety-seven people on board, and later one person on the ground, lost their lives. Two passengers miraculously survived.

According to the aviation minister, 'overconfident pilots' and air traffic control officials were responsible for the crash. The findings thus far do indicate catastrophic mismanagement in the approach protocol. The crew, to quote the report, 'did not follow standard callouts' and when the ATC advised them twice to discontinue the approach on account of excessive height, the 'landing approach was not discontinued'...