Air Blue victims: Justice or peanuts?

Air transportation is considered to be the safest mode of transport, especially if the ratio of number of travellers to casualties is taken into account. But as we enter the third millennium, concern over safety in the aviation industry is stronger than ever.

Today, questions concerning the safe and secure air transportation services are getting a great deal of attention. This is particularly the case in Pakistan because of the recent crashes of Air Blue, JS Air and Sun Way. However, Air Blue Flight ED 202 was 2010’s top story. In 2010 in a short span of four months 185 people lost their lives in three fatal aircraft accidents. The overall death toll from 29 aircraft accidents since 1947 has gone up to 1,061.

In Pakistan the Safety Investigation Board (SIB) of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for investigating civil aircraft accidents and incidents in conformity with the Civil Aviation Rules, 1994 and ICAO Annex 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation). The Convention on International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) which is commonly also known as the Chicago Convention, 1944 was signed on December 7, 1944 in Chicago, USA. Pakistan has ratified the Convention on November 6, 1947 and it came into effect on December 6, 1947.

In conformity with Article 26 of the Chicago Convention it is an obligation on every member state to conduct an impartial and transparent investigation into an aircraft accident. Air Blue Flight ED 202 was the worst ever air disaster in Pakistan’s history but unfortunately it has been treated as an ordinary accident and CAA has formed a routine investigation team. The team includes members from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Air Blue only which is in violation of Standard 5.18 of ICAO’s Annex 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) that requires that the investigation team should include accredited representatives from the (1). State of Registry, (2). State of the Operator, (3). State of Design and (4). State of Manufacturer besides the persons nominated by the government as the chairman and members.

Air crash investigation is a specialised task and should only be conducted by qualified investigators. The outcome of every investigation depends on the expertise of the investigators. If there is no qualified person in Pakistan then the government should seek this kind of skill in other countries.

The end result of every aircraft accident investigation is its final report. It is interesting that while 1,061 people have lost their lives in 29 aircraft accidents since 1947 the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has not published even a single investigation report of any aircraft accident. This is also a violation of the Civil Aviation Rules, 1994 as well as the Chicago Convention as both require that investigation report should be released as soon as possible with safety recommendations.

It has now been over seven months since the tragic accident of Air Blue Flight ED 202 but the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has not made public even a “preliminary report.“ Last month a report published in newspapers said that the investigation team of JS Air includes a medical doctor who will be taking the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) to Canada for decoding. The JS Air “Beechcraft 1900C-1” crashed in the Central Ordnance Depot (COD) just after taking off from the Karachi airport, resulting in the death of all nineteen passengers and two crew members on board on November 5 last year.

It is a pre-requisite that air crash investigators should have a background in aviation and possess practical work experience as a professional pilot, as an aeronautical engineer or as an aircraft maintenance engineer. It is hard to understand how a medical doctor is assisting in the decoding process of Flight Data Recorder (FDR) which is a highly technical job and only five countries in the world having modern laboratories equipped for this. This situation is sufficient to postulate that either the CAA is not serious about the investigation, or worse, has ulterior motives to suppress the real facts and truth. So it would not be wrong to assume that what the investigations reveal would be amusing and what they conceal could be vital.

Hiding information is no coincidence. When nothing is divulged, it is difficult to lay blame, and claims get ignored. Delay in investigation process also deepens the pain of the victims’ family members who have already undergone profound grief. In many cases the families of the victims are not even aware of their rights and they feel helpless. Next week, we will talk about their options and how their rights are being trampled upon.

The Author is an Advocate of the High Court and holds a Master of Law (LL.M) in Corporate Law

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2011.