Tragedy in the skies

The worst air disaster on Pakistan’s soil (more people died on PIA Flight 268 on September 28, 1992 but this crash occurred outside Katmandu) has come as a great shocker in a country whose citizens have to contend with dozens of innocent people dying through terrorist attacks almost on a weekly basis. Air Blue Flight ED 202 en route to Islamabad from Karachi carrying 152 passengers and crew crashed along the slopes of the Margalla Hills. According to rescuers and local officials, the crash site was near-vertical and that, along with the bad weather, made access to the wreckage difficult. Initially there were reports of five survivors but by late afternoon it was officially announced that there were no survivors.

While it may be too early to speculate on the actual cause of the crash, it is worth pointing out that the aircraft was attempting to land in bad weather and with visibility not very good. It has also been reported that several flights to the capital had in recent days been delayed or cancelled. Islamabad’s airport is equipped with ILS (instrument landing system) which means that pilots can land in bad weather. Having said that, though, the chances for something going wrong, or perhaps even pilot error, always increase when there is bad weather. Several visitors to the website of this newspaper, which was carrying live updates of the crash and the rescue effort, have pointed out that the aircraft was trying to land using ILS but on a runway that requires the pilot to fly parallel to the Margallas. The airport has two runways but reportedly only one has ILS (which one hopes was operational on July 28) and this is the one that requires a slightly riskier approach. Risky if there is bad weather. Common sense would suggest that the pilot should have perhaps turned the plane back and landed in Lahore. Common sense would also dictate that it is about time that the Civil Aviation Authority install ILS on both runways. Of course, that is of no solace to the families of the 152 who died on the slopes of the Margallas.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th, 2010.