PIA's training plane makes emergency landing

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) training plane, Sesna 172 had to perform an emergency landing near Katti Bandar on Friday.

Both the teacher and the students were able to escape unharmed.

According to details the plane flew from Karachi at 9am and started experiencing technical difficulties at around 9:40 am. The pilot then proceeded to safely land the plane.

PIA is currently investigating the technical difficulties while also assessing the cost to the international carrier.

In 2011, two Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) twin-turboprop aeroplanes met with engine failures but their passengers remained unscathed due to safe emergency landings. The airline’s official spokesperson termed these landings as ‘technical landings’.

Half an hour after takeoff from Jinnah International Airport, the engine of PIA’s ATR plane failed. Flight number PK-501 was headed to Turbat and it flew on schedule at 8:30 am with 21 passengers and four crew members. After a while, the pilot felt there was a problem in the plane’s left engine and he passed this information on to relevant officers, PIA’s official spokesperson, Mashood Tajwar said.

Engine failure: Small plane on training exercise makes safe emergency landing

The control tower at Jinnah International Airport directed the pilot to make an emergency landing at the Karachi airport because Turbat airport did not have engineering facilities to fix the airplane. The pilot landed the plane safely even with a short time limit, said the spokesperson. He added that the twin-turboprop planes can land easily with one of its engines off, even on small runways. These planes were made part of PIA’s fleet when the infamous Fokkers were removed after the Multan incident. “In the event of an engine failure the risk factor is relatively low because these aeroplanes fly at a slower speed as compared to jets,” said Tajwar.

The small 48-seater plane, model number ATR 42-500, takes an hour and twenty minutes to cover the 431 kilometres distance from Karachi to Turbat. Once the plane arrives in Turbat it has to leave for Muscat, the capital of Oman, and then return back to Karachi with another stopover at Turbat. All these flights were called off by the PIA administration.