Make the Airblue crash report public

The cockpit resource management, rule violations, incompetent CAA are ‘contributory’ factors in the accident.

Seven months have gone by since the  Airblue crash, and yet the families of the victims have yet to have closure, primarily because the inquiry report has not been made public. There is much speculation, most of it ill-informed, about the various factors which caused the  Airblue accident. Such speculation fails to come to grips with the reality that while a host of factors may have contributed to the accident, the ultimate responsibility for the safe conduct of the flight rests with the aircraft commander. Bad weather, fatigue, fasting, commercial pressure to land and not divert to another airport, poor air traffic control coordination between the tower and radar, inappropriate crew pairing, a breakdown in cockpit resource management, rule violations, a sloppy and incompetent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and so on, are ‘contributory’ factors in the accident. The principal ‘probable cause’ of the accident is almost self-evident: Pilot error. This is not a cruel rush to judgment. This is, sadly, the cause of the majority of air accidents world-wide and the circumstances here forcefully point in that direction.

It is a supreme irony that ‘pilot error’ is the predominant cause of air accidents. Pilots are the most well-trained species on earth, subject to recurrent physical examinations and simulator check-rides. Failing the former can end their careers. The latter can cause even the most bold and brave amongst them, to have nightmares over what is going to be thrown at them by the simulator instructor. Today’s full-motion flight simulators are so realistic that pilots are known to emerge from a session, during which emergencies were practiced, drenched in perspiration. The flight simulator is rightfully labelled ‘The ego-buster’.

The Islamabad accident is a ‘Controlled-Flight-Into-Terrain’ (CFIT) event. A perfectly air-worthy aircraft hits high ground. We know what happened. The question is why? Why did a modern aircraft with the most sophisticated look-ahead, terrain-warning systems on board and a computer-generated voice, blaring repeatedly “pull up!” in a rising crescendo as the terrain was approached, still smash into a hill at high speed and extinguish all lives on board?

Only a full accident report can explain what happened in the last 30 minutes in that cockpit and how the aircraft was behaving. Sadly, Pakistan has no history of publishing any air accident report in the last 62 years. The surviving family members of those who perished at Cairo, Taif, Khatmandu, Multan, the Northern Areas, East Pakistan and now Islamabad are left to grieve with no explanation as to why their loved ones died.

The cause of air safety is not served by concealing the facts of an air accident. Each air accident harbours vital lessons. Remedial measures and safety recommendations are made. If the CFIT accidents at Cairo and Khatmandu had been published, arguably the accident in Islamabad would have never happened. Lessons would have been learnt and procedures modified, including special vigilance and better cockpit resource management and cross-checks when flying near high ground.

The main reason for keeping air accident investigations secret is simple: Money. If negligence is proven (and in the above list only the accident at Taif was not connected to pilot error, since there was an uncontrolled cabin fire), the monetary compensation families obtain can be very large. The  Airblue CEO is a politically well-connected individual. He will do everything in his power to ensure the accident report does not see the light of day. One hears that some compensation has been given. But, without knowing the cause of the accident, it is not possible to establish whether the compensation is fair. It, probably, is far from fair.

Meanwhile, it is heartening to read that the Sindh High Court has taken up the case and has summoned all parties concerned to depose before it. The honourable court instead of starting its own investigation and waste more time should pass a simple order instead: The accident investigation report, along with the read-out from the cockpit voice recorder and digital flight data recorder should be published and put on the CAA’s website. That would not only set a bold precedent, it would be the right thing to do. Only full transparency and the truth will bring closure to the grieving families.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 24^th, 2011.