Inconvenience: Passengers kept waiting over 8 hours for their flight

PIA Spokesperson flight had to return because the crew smelled something burning in the plane.

RAWALPINDI:

Passengers travelling to Dubai via a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight were forced to wait for at least eight hours on Saturday.

Flight PK-211 took off at scheduled time at 1pm, but had to return to the airport after 45 minutes because of a technical error, Hamza Abbasi, a passenger aboard the flight, told The Express Tribune.

Abbasi said the crew of the flight informed the passengers that they had to go back due to a technical problem. They added that another plane will be arranged by 6pm. But at 10pm, four hours after the new plane arrived, the flight had not taken off.

“The crew has now informed us that some communication faults have been observed in the new plane and the engineers are trying to repair them,” Abbasi said.

PIA Spokesperson Sultan Ahmed said the flight had to return because the crew smelled something burning in the plane.

Initial investigations revealed that the smell came from Mango crates, which contained carbide, he added. The chemical is used to ripen mangoes.

The plane had been changed under the Standard Operating Procedures, he added.

However the replacement plane, developed some fault in its communication system, he said, adding that the flight will take off as soon as the fault is fixed.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2012.