Lahore High Court: ‘Centre in charge of training flight paths’

Petition seeks ban on trainee pilot flights over residential areas.

LAHORE: The flight paths of trainee pilots are the responsibility of the federal government and only it can stop them from flying over residential areas, the Home Department told the Lahore High Court on Thursday.

The court of Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik was hearing a petition calling for a ban on trainee flights over residential areas, particularly after a trainee pilot and his instructor were killed when their plane crashed into a Model Town house on February 23.

A lawyer representing the Home Department told the court that the provincial government could not restrict the flight paths of trainee pilots as this was the responsibility of the Civil Aviation Authority of the federal government.

A deputy attorney general (DAG) sought time to consult with the federal government on the matter. The court directed him to ensure the federal government files its reply to the petition by April 20.

Advocate Ishtiaq Chaudhry, the petitioner, submitted that the training flights were not supposed to be conducted over residential areas. He said that Lahore had grown a lot over recent years and many previously uninhabited regions were now heavily congested. He asked the court to direct the government to stop training flights over residential areas.