Govt given 10 days to submit 2016 plane crash report

The Sindh High Court on Thursday gave 10 days to the federal government to submit a report on a petition seeking an inquiry into the 2016 Havelian plane crash.

PIA flight PK-661 had crashed near Havelian on the way to Islamabad from Chitral on December 7, 2016, killing all 47 on board including famous singer-turned-preacher Junaid Jamshed.  The plane was an ATR-42 turboprop aircraft.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, while hearing the petition, expressed its displeasure over the continuous delay in the submission of the report.

“Four years have passed since the plane crash, but you people do not realise it [the gravity of the situation],” Justice Mazhar remarked.

The deputy attorney general sought one more week from the court to submit the report.

The judge warned the law officer that if the report was still not received within 10 days, the court would summon higher authorities.

In August, the SHC had directed the Civil Aviation Authority and other institutions concerned to submit the inquiry report of the plane crash.

In February last year, the Islamabad High Court had also censured the Civil Aviation Authority over its failure in completing the inquiry into the Havelian plane crash.

During the hearing, the court was informed that several parts of the aircraft were made by French and American firms and the investigation was being delayed because of slow-paced communication with the manufacturers.

In January this year, the Safety Investigation Board tasked with investigating into the incident had found a ‘lapse’ on the part of the PIA and a ‘lack of oversight’ by the CAA that could have caused the crash.

“The investigation is nearing a concluding stage, however, some important findings of technical nature require immediate attention/intervention,” read the SIB preliminary report.

It further stated that the sequence of events began with dislodging of one blade of power turbine stage-1, inside engine-1 (left side engine), due to fatigue. This dislodging of one blade resulted in an in-flight engine shutdown and it contributed towards erratic/ abnormal behaviour of No 1 propeller. These turbine blades were to be changed after completion of 10,000 hours (of use) on next immediate maintenance opportunity. The engine was under maintenance on November 11, 2016 and at that time these blades had completed 10,004.1 hours (of use) and were due for a change. This activity should have been undertaken at that time, but it was missed out by those concerned.

The aircraft flew approximately 93 hours after the maintenance activity before it crashed.

The SIB noted that the missing out of such an activity highlighted a lapse on the part of PIAC (maintenance and quality assurance) and a possible inadequacy/lack of oversight by the CAA.