Bhoja Air crash case: IHC sets deadline for implementing panel recommendations

All 127 passengers and crew members on board were killed when the plane coming to Islamabad from Karachi crashed

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has given the government three months to implement the judicial commission’s recommendations following a probe into the Bhoja Air plane crash, which led to the tragic loss of 127 passengers and crew members.

On Thursday, Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, issued a detailed verdict in the case and instructed the government to submit a compliance report to the court registrar once the deadline expires. During the arguments, the court suggested to the parties and especially to the petitioners regarding implementation of the recommendation of the judicial commission.



All the 127 passengers and crew members on board B-213 were killed when the plane coming to Islamabad from Karachi crashed near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport on April 20, 2012.

The families of eight of the victims filed petitions with the IHC in September 2012 seeking an independent inquiry into the incident. In July 2013, Justice Siddiqui formed the commission which concluded its proceedings and gave several recommendations.

The commission had called for improving pilot training to recognise, avoid and recover from wind shear. Variation in wind velocity occurring along a direction at right angles to the wind’s direction and tending to exert a turning force is called wind shear and it was this phenomenon that had caused the crash of Bhoja airplane.



The commission suggested better weather monitoring. It also backed an overall improvement in the training of pilots through simulators, monitoring the health of pilots and aircraft and the financial health of airlines.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th,  2015.