KARACHI - The recent incidents of emergency landings by passenger aircraft of the national flag carrier happened due to poor maintenance but the aviation regulatory authority has turned a blind eye to the problem, putting thousands of innocent lives at risk.
The alarming situation has also created confusion among thousands of passengers who board Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flights everyday, without having any idea that their safety is being compromised; however, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has been found compromising and provides no information to the passengers about potential risks of flying with poorly-maintained aircraft.
On August 3, Muscat-bound PIA flight PK-501 via Karachi to Turbat made an emergency landing at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi as one of its engines break down after half-an-hour of takeoff. The plane, carrying twenty passengers besides crewmembers, returned to Karachi airport and was able to land safely.
The same day another PIA flight, PK-508, en route to Karachi from Punjgur made an emergency landing at the Jinnah International Airport as one of its engines broke down.
Last month, PIA flight PK-734, Airbus A-310, returning from Milan via Paris-Lahore was detained at the Charles de Gualle Airport in Paris, when the Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) inspectors reported over 30 safety issues with the aircraft. The passengers were later flown back to Pakistan through PK-702 from Manchester-Islamabad flight via Paris.
The PIA’s Avion de Transport Regional (ATR) 42-500 twin turbo-prop aircraft are manufactured by a joint venture between European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company NV (EADS) and Alenia Aeronautica, an Italian-French company with its headquarters in Toulouse, France. The national flag carrier currently has seven ATR planes in service that were inducted in the fleet to replace the obsolete Fokker planes. The ATR 42-500 can carry up to 50 passengers.
In March 2007, due to violation of aviation safety standards, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) exempting only seven aircraft had banned 35 Boeing 777s series planes of the PIA from flying over the 27-nation bloc of the European Union (EU). The restriction was imposed after a number of accidents were reported about PIA’s outdated Fokker fleet. Consequently, the national airline made a large cut in its domestic and Middle East operations and grounded its ageing Fokker fleet.
Pakistan’s image of air safety compliance has already been badly affected by the recent tragic disasters of Airblue, JS Air and Sun Way.
With the responsibility of developing an internal mechanism and institutional culture to address aviation safety violations lying with the CAA, industry experts and passengers demand that there are serious issues related to flight standards and airworthiness of aircraft that need to be addressed by the CAA in order to ensure safety and security of passengers and reduce the probability of plane crashes.
Talking with Pakistan Today, Advocate Shah Murad said the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is charged with the regulation of civil aviation worldwide, having 190 contracted countries.
“It is impossible for the ICAO to be responsible for safety of each and every commercial flight; therefore, within the Chicago Convention, 1944 framework, the organisation promotes technical and operational safety of civil aviation through establishment of safety oversight responsibility and security audit programmes for verifying state compliance with International Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs).”
The ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit is a function by which members ensure effective implementation and compliance of safety related SARPs, he added.
The CAA, however, is not doing enough to ensure compliance of ICAO’s safety oversight and protect air passengers at high risk due to violations in aviation safety procedures.
When contacted, official PIA spokesperson Mashhud Tajwar was of the view that fleet maintenance is ‘satisfactory under the given resources.’
He also claimed the national carrier to be one of the best airlines in the world. “We do not operate flights even with a miniscule problem that shows our commitment to the safety of passengers.” On the issue of flight delays, he claimed that about 80 percent of the recent flight delays were due to bad weather, resulting in consequential delays of other flights.
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk
http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk
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