AirBlue Commercial Aircraft Crashes in Islamabad

[Mujahid]

 

[sparklingway]

Compensation claims seen making matters worse for Airblue​

Victim’s family to get Rs0.5m under local law, Rs12.8m as per int’l

Saturday, July 31, 2010
By Saad Hasan

KARACHI: Airblue will have to pay a compensation of Rs4.2 million to each family of the Margalla plane crash victim under the Civil Aviation Rules, but this amount would jump to Rs12.8 million each if the matter is settled in line with international conventions, aviation experts and lawyers said on Friday.

Civil Aviation Authority officials and lawyers said compensating families could become a knotty issue because of contradictions in Pakistan’s air-travel insurance laws.

Under the Civil Aviation rules, the compensation for a plane crash victim is decided according to the Hague Protocol of 1955, which guarantees 250,000 francs as insurance claim, they said.

What makes the matter complicated is the Carriage by Air Act 2010, tabled in the national assembly on June 28 this year, which says that in case a passenger loses life in a domestic flight accident, the family gets Rs500,000, 8.4 time less than the amount given under the Hague Protocol.

“Airblue is likely to follow the Carriage by Air Act to get away by paying just half-a-million rupees per passenger,” Yahya Adeel, a CAA lawyer said.

The tabled act has been derived from the Montreal Convention, which Pakistan signed in 1999. The compensation amount set by this convention is much higher than the Hague Protocol, the lawyer added.

“Montreal was never implemented in the country. And now it has been made part of the Carriage by Air Act but the compensation amount for domestic passengers at Rs500,000 remains controversial.”

Montreal says that passengers be given 100,000 SDRs (special drawing rights) in damages, the lawyer said, adding that this totals to Rs12.8 million at the current value. Each SDR is equal to 1.51 US dollars.

“Insurance companies will argue that Montreal covers international passengers only. But CAA law treats a domestic and an international passenger alike so there canít be any discrimination.”

There were 152 people, including six crew members, onboard the Airbus 321, which crashed into Margalla Hills on July 28. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

As per Hague Protocol, Airblue will have to pay a total compensation of Rs613 million, but under the Montreal Convention this amount is about Rs1.8 billion.

A lawyer, who settled disputes for PIA Fokker crash in Multan in 2006, said Airblue would find itself in trouble if it fails to pacify the victimsí families immediately.

PIA had to pay Rs2 million to each family against its earlier commitment of Rs500,000 on fears of litigation, which could make the matter worse for the national carrier as per the Montreal Convention.

“They couldnít escape it. The underwriters had to negotiate and take the families into confidence. Families were made to realise that the airline was paying much more than what the rules prescribe.”

The lawyer said that PIA knew that if the families of victims took plea of the international conventions, the national carrier would end up paying hundreds of millions of rupees more.

The General Manager Marketing of Airblue, Raheel Ahmed, did not give details about insurance of aircraft and passengers. “We will cover the loss of lives as per rules and regulations of the government. I canít tell you the size of total package. But the insurance company is already on ground and working for the arrangement.”

Industry officials say that EFU General Insurance is the local insurer and has many international reinsurance firms to back its claims, including Lloyds of London.

EFU will have to bear just 5 percent of the insurance claim and rest of the amount would be covered by the re-insurance companies, an industry source said.

Ahmed said that it has become increasingly difficult for the airline to deal with the situation as lot of relatives and friends are demanding compensation and itís hard to establish the genuine complainant.

“In one of the cases, three family members of a victim approached me for compensation but they are undecided about who is going to be the legal heir.”

Sajid Bashir, former legal advisor CAA, said that under the Federal Accidents Act, there was no limit to airlineís liability incase of a crash. “If someone invokes this law then the airline might have to settle the claim at a higher cost.”

 

[sparklingway]

CAA to release interim report in two months​

ISLAMABAD: Flight ED202 was not given its ‘orbit’ by the control tower as it prepared to land in Islamabad, said Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Junaid Amin at a press conference on Friday. He added that an interim report on the crash would be handed over to the government soon.

‘Orbit’ is the altitude given to planes to fly at before landing by the control tower, in case more than one plane in the vicinity is waiting to land at the same time. However, Amin added that the decision to land or divert to another airport was generally made by the captain of the aircraft and the control tower could not give him any instructions in this regard.

Amin explained the procedure the pilot was supposed to follow to land at Islamabad, saying that the plane should have taken a right turn followed by a left turn to come in parallel to Runway 12.

“Runway 30 was not being used due to bad weather,” said the DG. However, the plane veered right and continued on this course, heading straight for the Margalla Hills, according to Amin.

Amin stressed that the conversation between the plane’s captain, Pervaiz Iqbal Chaudhry, and the control tower and the radar tower was absolutely normal without any trace of panic. The communication link between the plane and the tower remained intact until the crash occurred.

Amin rejected any notions that the pilot was fatigued or too old to fly. He said that only further investigations could reveal whether the plane developed any fault mid-flight.

The aviation authority chief said that a seven-member team comprising officials of the CAA and a pilot from Airblue had visited the site of the crash on Friday. They were accompanied by the 5-member French team from the manufacturers of the Airbus A 321 who had arrived in Pakistan on Thursday to help with the investigation.

Amin said the team had failed to recover the black box yet. “The Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) and the Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) could not be located in today’s search. The teams will make a breakthrough in this regard on Saturday hopefully,” he said.

Amin said that once the box was recovered it will be sent to France to be decoded.

The DG said the interim report on the investigations might be submitted in two months but this will not be an authentic inquiry report. Refusing to give a specific timeframe for the completion of the investigation, Amin said the inquiry report will be handed over to the government.

“Only the black box would reveal what went wrong with the plane, from the conversation of the pilots and other details,” Amin added.

The aviation authority head said the investigation will encompass every aspect of how and why the accident occurred. To a question, he said the alleged religious inclination of the pilot will also be investigated. He said the aircraft had modern air and ground warning systems but whether they had operated properly or not could only be ascertained from the data in the black box.

Airblue’s official line

Meanwhile, two days after flight ED 202 crashed into the Margalla Hills, Airblue’s Chief Operating Officer Shahid Khaqan Abbasi appeared before the public to announce compensation to the families of each crash victim.

At a news conference, Abbasi said Airblue’s insurer would pay at least Rs1 million to the kin of each victim as compensation in addition to paying $35 million, on account of the hull value of the plane.

Abbasi said the printed value of insurance at the back of each travel ticket was Rs1 million.

“The final insurance package will be calculated by the reinsurer company in consultation with the Civil Aviation Authority and according to domestic insurance rules, which may be even more than this,” he said. The government has already announced Rs500,000 as compensation to the kin of each victim. The insurance amount will be given out on top of that. He said Airblue’s insurer is The Willis Group, one of three leading aviation reinsurers.

“Our next focus is providing compensation to the kin of the victims and for that a registration process has been started,” he added. He said relatives can register on the Airblue website or can visit any Airblue office.

Abbasi said 102 bodies had been handed over to families and 62 DNA samples had been collected to identify remaining bodies. Abbasi also urged the government to make the finding of the investigation report public. Abbasi did not completely rule out sabotage as the cause of the crash. “I cannot say anything with surety, however, so far there is no such evidence,” he added.

Abbasi ruled out the possibility that the plane had a technical fault: “The plane did not have any fault on record.” It was a modern aircraft only 10 years old and had flown for 34,000 hours, which is a young age according to airline standards, he added.

He also brushed aside rumors that the pilot, the late Captain Pervez, was fatigued. “He last flew a plane 36 hours before taking the ED 202 flight,” said the chief operating officer. The pilot was 61 years old and had a lot of experience, flying 25,000 hours. According to international standards, a person can fly a plane till the age of 65, Abbasi added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani directed the Interior Minister that the recovery operation following the crash had to be completed urgently.

Talking to Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Friday, the PM said all possible assistance must be extended to the families of the deceased. Malik said most bodies had been handed over to families after their identification. Earlier in the day, police and rescue teams recovered a few more bodies from the wreckage of the plane. (With additional input from wires)

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st, 2010.

 

[arsalan shafique]

JUst oNE Ask oNe Question where is da black box???????

 

[sparklingway]

JUst oNE Ask oNe Question where is da black box???????

You can close your conspiracy theories for the next two months now. One of the two CVRs had been recovered yesterday. The FDR it seems has now been found.

Black box recovered, handed over to CAA

Rescue workers at the site of the crash. PHOTO: QAZI USMAN

ISLAMABAD: In the latest development into the horrific airblue crash investigation, the black box has been found on Saturday which is crucial to determine the cause of the crash.

Sources said that the black box has been handed over to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Earlier today, a French team reached the crash site to look for evidence and black box. DG CAA, Junaid Amin has confirmed that the black box of the crashed plan has recovered. Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Data Recorder have also been recovered.

He said that a specialized kind of equipment is needed to decode it which is not available in Pakistan.

 

[fawwaxs]

Crashed Air Blue flight's black box found

ISLAMABAD: Recovery workers on Saturday found the ''black box'' flight data recorder from the wreckage of Pakistan's worst-ever plane crash, though its condition was unclear, a government official said.

The discovery could shed light on why the Airblue flight crashed Wednesday into the hills overlooking the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, killing all 152 people onboard.

The ''black box'' was found following a difficult recovery effort hampered by rain, mud and a lack of proper roads in the heavily forested Margalla Hills. It has been handed to aviation officials, said Ramzan Sajid, a spokesman for the Capital Development Authority, a government agency.

The plane - an Airbus A321 model - had been ordered to take an alternative approach to the runway at Islamabad airport but had apparently veered off course, the Civil Aviation Authority said earlier this week.

Officials said the plane had lost contact with the control tower before the crash, which occurred during stormy weather. – AP

 

[Gin ka Pakistan]

just came to know that the first officer was an ex F-16s polit of PAF and it was his second or third trip on Air Blue

 

[Mujahid]

An official of Pakistan CAA carries the covered black box of crashed Airbus A321 at Margalla Hills in Islamabad on Saturday, 31 July 2010

 

[mshoaib61]

What couldn’t be recovered from the site

Just the way you wouldn’t hand weapons to an untrained army, you wouldn’t hand cameras and a press pass to untrained media representatives. However, fact of the matter is that time and time again we are reminded that the latter has been taking place in Pakistan almost constantly.

A country expects its army to protect and defend them and similarly a country expects its media to responsibly broadcast news to them.

What we saw yesterday in the wake of an enormous national tragedy was not responsible reporting. We could not even wait a few hours before we started looking for suspects to pin the blame on. We couldn’t even wait to verify the death toll before reporting that there were 40 survivors. We couldn’t even let a day pass before inviting talk show guests to discuss conspiracy theories. And most of all, we couldn’t even focus on what the language we were using must sound like to a grief stricken nation.

Yes, 152 people died in the Margalla Hills. They perished. Their families are grieving. The rescue teams and media personnel who saw the crash site first hand must also be grieving. But we are a hasty nation. We want results, we want culprits named and we want to suck every emotion and thought out of your mind when we get a hold of you. And for all of that, we will tell you that the black box was found, even though headlines this morning state that is not the case. We can not play with people’s hopes and emotions – how do you even expect a nation to trust you?

Shoving the mic in the faces of crying relatives, the media asked “How do you feel?” How do you think they felt, respected colleagues? What was a reporter thinking when she boasted about running barefoot to be the first one to ‘break the news’ for her channel?

Later at night, news channels could have easily invited weather experts, CAA officials, air force pilots who fly in those areas, geologists to explain the terrain and possibility of survival, and impact experts – what we got instead were officials who discussed the possibility of planes being shot down near the no-go zone.

Anchors harassed Rehman Malik to explain what happened and how the tragedy took place. Why would you ask Rehman Malik this question? I understand he is a government official but he doesn’t even know how security lapses allow suicide bombs to go off everyday, so how would you expect him to explain the technicalities of a plane crash?!

Perhaps we have become used to covering terrorist attacks in the most blatant way possible but we could have shown some sensitivity here. Since there was nothing but debris to show on the screens, cameraman panned the tattered chequebooks and broken make-up kits of the crash victims. Yes, because if I had just been killed in a horrible accident, my family would definitely want to see my belongings scattered next to my remains.

The pilot of the “doomed flight” is not sitting at home with his family. Neither is he facing an investigation of the accident. He is among the dead too. He has a family too. He was not a terrorist who wanted to take a plane full of people down with him. But we didn’t consider that when we immediately starting pointing out his age, his fatigue and his medical conditions. Even if there was a problem or a mistake at his end, lets wait for CAA and Air Blue’s official statements and investigation results before brandishing him as the one responsible for the tragedy.

Hundreds and thousands of us have travelled this airline before and because of their safe landing, we are sitting in front of our computer screens today. Yet all of a sudden we are complaining on public forums about what terrible landings travellers of the air line have to face. Guess what angry people – tons of flights often have bad landings but you cannot use that excuse to justify what happened yesterday.

I believe we are a curious nation but I do not believe we are an insensitive one. The prayers, the tears and the shock yesterday proved we have emotions – television channels played with those emotions yesterday. They didn’t realise that a mother of a victim was in shock before asking her what her daughter was like in person. They didn’t realise that flashing “honeymoon couple dead” on their tickers, would not be any more hard-hitting that the deaths of all of those who were not on their honeymoon.

I expect illiterate people or unbothered citizens not to read this but the media can and should read this. What are you doing? I may be just a few years old in this field and I may not understand the implications of being in a media ***-race, but nothing can justify what we did yesterday. Instead of giving the nation the sensitive and true reports it needed, we gave them traumatizing visuals and crude commentary.

I have spoken out loud about media ethics before but never have I felt as embarrassed as I do today to be considered a part of this ‘industry’. If any one in a position of authority understands this, take action and train your team. It’ll be the best public service you could do for a nation of lost souls.

Shyema Sajjad is the Deputy Editor at Dawn.com


The Dawn Blog Blog Archive What couldn’t be recovered from the site

 

[arsalan shafique]

You can close your conspiracy theories for the next two months now. One of the two CVRs had been recovered yesterday. The FDR it seems has now been found.

it wasnt like that dude in airblue 320....more then 10 warning sytems are to warm terain ahead........it was pilot erroe or it was really shot down by army..........becoz no is made enough to push the plane 15 miles in mountains with 33000 flying hours.............!!!!!

 

[Xeeshan]

DNA test results cause further confusion​

ISLAMABAD: Results of about half of the DNA samples taken for matching came back on Friday. Instead of providing closure to the grieving families, many of the test results have revealed multiple matches for the samples collected.

All 152 passengers aboard the Airblue flight ED-202 were killed when the plane crashed in Margalla Hills near Islamabad on Wednesday morning last week. Many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition and the authorities asked relatives to provide blood and tissue samples to determine the identities of the remains.

There have been conflicting reports about the number of test results that have been sent back by the testing laboratory.

DC Amir Ali Islamabad Administration said that results of 25 of the 52
samples sent for matching had arrived.

Another senior official said that while nine of these samples were successfully matched and the bodies handed over to the relatives, the remaining 16 samples had multiple matches. “Some DNA samples matched more than three coffins,” the senior official revealed. He added that it would take more time to identify the remaining bodies.

However, another senior official, on condition of anonymity, said that the actual number of results was 30.

The government, he said, did not release information about the remaining five test results because no matches were found.

To cause further confusion, Professor Dr Anwarul Haq, Head of Pathology Department at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, told The Express Tribune on Friday afternoon that KRL Hospital in G-9/1 had given them the results of 28 DNA tests. “Most of the results however still need further testing for 100 per cent confirmation of identity,” Dr Haq said.

He added that they had taken 216 DNA samples from the bodies and 52 blood, tissue and DNA samples from family members.

Seven samples had been sent in from other cities.

The accuracy of the results, according to Dr Haq, is being marred by the fact that most of the samples have been taken from siblings. “The tests results would be have been more accurate had parents given their DNA samples for the tests,” he said.

Express tribune | 7th August

 

[Xeeshan]

Although a little off-topic, but it gives an idea about how the technology is still in its advancement stages.
According to United Kingdom's Home office, in more than 50,000 instances since 2001, DNA samples taken from the crime scene resulted in multiple matches. This does not mean that the evidence is no use; most matches are quickly eliminated from police inquiries.

If so much redundancy in DNA samples could occur, while only (approximately) 216 families were tested. I wonder, what would have happened if (Khuda na khwasta) more families were involved.

 

[fatman17]

Airblue A321 crash: No evidence of technical problems

DATE:23/08/10

SOURCE:Air Transport Intelligence news

By David Kaminski-Morrow

Preliminary inquiries into the fatal Airblue Airbus A321 accident outside Islamabad last month suggest the aircraft suffered no technical problems before the crash.

Flight ED202 had been attempting to land at the Pakistani capital on 28 July but struck terrain north of the airport.

Both the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders have been successfully read by the French investigation agency Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses.

This information has enabled investigators to "determine a preliminary analysis", says a source familiar with the inquiry.

"It is fair to say that the [investigators] should have everything they need to understand what happened," the source states, adding that there is "no indication of any technical malfunction".

"The cause of this accident seems to be on the operational side."

Airbus has informed operators of A320-family aircraft that it has "no specific recommendation to raise", effectively a statement that nothing points to a need for carriers to make technical checks or modify their operations.

 

[fawwaxs]

‘Airblue cockpit had a third person’

ISLAMABAD: A team investigating the crash of the ill-fated Airblue jetliner on July 28 in Islamabad has detected the possible presence of a third person in the cockpit. Under normal circumstances, a cockpit is not supposed to have anyone other than the pilot and the co-pilot.

“The investigators have reportedly heard the voice of a third person in the cockpit of the Airblue jetliner,” a source close to the investigation told Dawn on condition of anonymity.

The voice has been extracted from the Cockpit Voice Recorder, according to the source, and the investigators were looking into various possibilities and aspects.

The CVR, which is part of the ‘Black Box’, is a flight recorder used to document the audio environment in the cockpit of an aircraft. In order to record and document the audio environment, microphones are installed in the pilots’ headsets and in the roof of the cockpit.

The source said that the data of communication between the control tower and the pilot were available with the investigators. Dawn has also learnt that the pilot and control tower communicated with each other for two minutes and 25 seconds.

Two teams are currently investigating the air crash in which 152 people were killed. One of them is headed by Air Commodore Khawaja Abdul Majeed, president of the Civil Aviation Authority’s Safety Investigation Board. It is focussing on human factors, possibility of technical fault and weather conditions.

The second team, headed by Federal Investigation Agency Director General Zafarullah Khan, has been assigned the task of investigating the possibility of ‘sabotage’.

The source said that investigators were trying to determine why the aircraft drifted five nautical miles away from its original route. “The late pilot was very experienced and professional with thousands of flying hours under his belt; hence the fact that the plane strayed five nautical miles from the original route is also a cause for concern for investigators,” he said. The source said that six investigators were yet to hold a joint meeting.

When asked if there was a third voice in the audio recording of the cockpit, CAA director general Air Commodore (retd) Junaid Amin told Dawn: “I am not aware of the presence of a third person in the cockpit… you cannot judge from the audio whether there was a third person….”



No fault in Airblue aircraft



An analysis of the Black Box of the ill-fated Airblue aircraft which crashed on July 28 has revealed that it had no technical fault at the time of the accident.

In intimation to A-320 operators across the world, Airbus said there was no need to update the procedures or make fresh recommendations after the ED 202 crash because all flight systems were working normally before the aircraft slammed into the fog-covered mountains.

All 152 passengers on board were killed.

The advisory was based on a preliminary analysis of flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder by Bureau d’Enquetes et d’Analyses.

A final outcome of the investigation may take months, but preliminary investigations have set the direction for the probe.

According to aviation experts, the Airbus communication implies that technical malfunctioning has been effectively ruled out as the cause of the incident and it is up to the investigation team constituted by the Civil Aviation Authority to determine if the crash occurred because of pilot error, bad weather, control tower fault or any other factor.

The cockpit voice recording readouts have also revealed that the pilots belatedly realised that they were flying into terrain. The first officer of the flight was heard screaming “Sir, pull up, pull up” moments before the crash.

This revelation has been supported by the findings of local investigators which show that before hitting the mountains the aircraft had climbed from 2,600 feet to 3,100 feet. The aircraft was circling for Runway 12, where it was to attempt visual landing.



Sources privy to the investigations believe the pilot got panicked after realising that he was flying into the terrain and had turned the autopilot ‘heading bug’ to the left at more than 180 degrees.



The aircraft, experts say, takes the shortest possible route in such situation and instead of turning left moved towards right.

Why did the aircraft go so close to the hills? Several explanations are being dished out, but the most commonly heard of in the aviation circles say that the pilot while circling for Runway 12 was on Flight Management Computer, but instead of following the prescribed route he had probably created a ‘visual circuit using place bearing distance waypoints’ that put him in the wrong place.

Insertion of place bearing distance waypoints is strictly prohibited by aircraft manufacturers because the Airbus FMC does not have a ‘fix page’ capability, wherein a defined distance can be superimposed on the existing route.



The standard instructions are that any route that is not supported by a ground navigational aid should not be used.

 

[BATMAN]

You can close your conspiracy theories for the next two months now. One of the two CVRs had been recovered yesterday. The FDR it seems has now been found.

Black box recovered, handed over to CAA

Rescue workers at the site of the crash. PHOTO: QAZI USMAN

ISLAMABAD: In the latest development into the horrific airblue crash investigation, the black box has been found on Saturday which is crucial to determine the cause of the crash.

Sources said that the black box has been handed over to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

Earlier today, a French team reached the crash site to look for evidence and black box. DG CAA, Junaid Amin has confirmed that the black box of the crashed plan has recovered. Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Data Recorder have also been recovered.

He said that a specialized kind of equipment is needed to decode it which is not available in Pakistan.

Seems i missed the news report about the out come of black box data!

So what did it said... what went wrong and what about the conversation of pilot and control tower?