PIA tragedy (1).

Byline: Prof Wasif M Khan - Lahore

Fahd Husain's column [May 23] highlights, sadly, yet again the institution and character flaws inherent in managing public transport safely in Pakistan.

Air crashes somehow evoke great anger, sympathy, heartaches and public comment, at least briefly. But many more lives are lost in buses, trains and other crashes, albeit with a painful regularity that has numbed our senses to these disasters.

Except for the AirBlue disaster, nothing has ever been published on our increasingly appalling air crash history. The world has standard protocols for how such disasters are to be investigated, by whom, using what tools, etc.

Only some peculiar cultural and social factors in Pakistan are different from the context of global aviation accidents.

Of these, cockpit crew dynamics and personalities, airline and operations room culture, safety ethos, and factors that affect them are worthy of particular...