PIA plane makes emergency landing due to technical fault
CAA dismisses reports of engine catching fire.
KARACHI:
A London-bound PIA flight PK-787, with 168 passengers and crew on board, landed safely at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi after one of its two engines reportedly caught fire.
Airbus-310 took off from Karachi airport at 11:25am but it came back for landing when its pilot informed control tower of serious problems in one of its engines.
The aircraft landed at 12:20, after a long 55-minutes flight, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson told The Express Tribune.
"The aircraft developed technical fault during the flight," he added, "This is not unusual as it happens in every part of the world."
PIA spokesperson said that the engine did not catch fire and information in media is not true.
Soon after the incident, the airline announced that it will shift PK-787 passengers to another aircraft.
PIA was shifting passengers to another aircraft which will take them to London, but the flight did not take off until the filing of this story at 2:30pm.
The spokesperson of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the landing of the aircraft was normal and no passenger was hurt during it.
“The pilot of the aircraft took the right decision to come back to Karachi because it was a long flight of seven to eight hours,” the CAA spokesperson added.
“We deployed all our emergency vehicles and equipment for the landing aircraft but at the end the pilot did land it safely without any difficulty,” he said.
Aviation experts say that a modern aircraft, even if one of its engines stop working, can land safely and that is what seemed to happen with Airbus-310 on Sunday.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mentioned the incorrect flight number. The error has been fixed.
A London-bound PIA flight PK-787, with 168 passengers and crew on board, landed safely at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi after one of its two engines reportedly caught fire.
Airbus-310 took off from Karachi airport at 11:25am but it came back for landing when its pilot informed control tower of serious problems in one of its engines.
The aircraft landed at 12:20, after a long 55-minutes flight, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spokesperson told The Express Tribune.
"The aircraft developed technical fault during the flight," he added, "This is not unusual as it happens in every part of the world."
PIA spokesperson said that the engine did not catch fire and information in media is not true.
Soon after the incident, the airline announced that it will shift PK-787 passengers to another aircraft.
PIA was shifting passengers to another aircraft which will take them to London, but the flight did not take off until the filing of this story at 2:30pm.
The spokesperson of Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the landing of the aircraft was normal and no passenger was hurt during it.
“The pilot of the aircraft took the right decision to come back to Karachi because it was a long flight of seven to eight hours,” the CAA spokesperson added.
“We deployed all our emergency vehicles and equipment for the landing aircraft but at the end the pilot did land it safely without any difficulty,” he said.
Aviation experts say that a modern aircraft, even if one of its engines stop working, can land safely and that is what seemed to happen with Airbus-310 on Sunday.
Correction: An earlier version of this story mentioned the incorrect flight number. The error has been fixed.