Firing on PIA Jet in Peshawar, Killing 1 Woman on Board

[Abotani]

They didn't, shooting was from ground

Thanks for the clarification.The opening post was a bit vague.I thought it was from inside the aircraft as shooting from the outside seemed very outlandish.

 

[HAIDER]

And this Enemy is "Hydra-Headed". You chop off one head and another one appears. This is idealogy based warfare. More so on some demented religious idealogy. Its not going to be easy to fight people "who see and hear divine commandments" and who are convinced that they have "booked their place in heaven".
Same for the misplaced notion that Al-Qaeda has been eliminated, its not it just mutated and multiplied like an amoeba.



Not necessarily. Its more important to beef up the Security there. Even more so considering that its actually a PAF airfield. If a PAF plane had been attacked instead?

If you ever travel Peshawar , its impossible to provide security to slow moving object , like transport plane. Plus, fighter plane is hard to target its fast moving and never know it come back to terrorist home with few small deliveries.
Its known fact at night when plane lands at airport, pilot turn off all cabin crew to passenger cabins lights, before landing. PIA been aware of this threat .

 

[Indus Falcon]

How bad is the A310?

 

[Capt.Popeye]

If you ever travel Peshawar , its impossible to provide security to slow moving object , like transport plane. Plus, fighter plane is hard to target its fast moving and never know it come back to terrorist home with few small deliveries.
Its known fact at night when plane lands at airport, pilot turn off all cabin crew to passenger cabins lights. PIA been aware of this threat .

I meant a PAF transport aircraft not a Fighter. Even Senior PAF personnel fly in transport aircraft. This incident shows that they can also be vulnerable.

Secondly, since this is a PAF airfield that is also used by PIA and other Civilian Flights; thus PAF is primarily responsible for Airfield and perimeter security. This incident seems to indicate that the Security is insufficient. Now let us speculate; if a PAF AWACs or Refueller was making an approach to the airfield, it would present any identical target. As it is, the Erieye Fleet has taken a major hit. Should not the PAF be careful about the security of its own airfields?

Even the bit about switching lights off etc. is meaningless, are the aircraft movements at Peshawar only restricted to night-time? In day-time any aircraft like a PAF transport or Passenger Jet will be extremely conspicous.

The PAF brass have to do some really some hard thinking and the Peshawar Base Commander should face some tough questions.

 

[Indus Falcon]

This airport / base should be closed and moved to a new safer location!!

 

[Mythal]

If you ever travel Peshawar , its impossible to provide security to slow moving object , like transport plane. Plus, fighter plane is hard to target its fast moving and never know it come back to terrorist home with few small deliveries.
Its known fact at night when plane lands at airport, pilot turn off all cabin crew to passenger cabins lights, before landing. PIA been aware of this threat .

I dont think the pilot turning off lights at landing has anything to do with trying to the visibility of plane from outside.
It is a standard procedure designed to help passenger's eye accommodate to darkness so that in case of an emergency (which is most likely while landing or taking off), the passengers are able to see the emergency evacuation lights.

 

[HAIDER]

I meant a PAF transport aircraft not a Fighter. Even Senior PAF personnel fly in transport aircraft. This incident shows that they can also be vulnerable.

Secondly, since this is a PAF airfield that is also used by PIA and other Civilian Flights; thus PAF is primarily responsible for Airfield and perimeter security. This incident seems to indicate that the Security is insufficient. Now let us speculate; if a PAF AWACs or Refueller was making an approach to the airfield, it would present any identical target. As it is, the Erieye Fleet has taken a major hit. Should not the PAF be careful about the security of its own airfields?

Even the bit about switching lights off etc. is meaningless, are the aircraft movements at Peshawar only restricted to night-time? In day-time any aircraft like a PAF transport or Passenger Jet will be extremely conspicous.

The PAF brass have to do some really some hard thinking and the Peshawar Base Commander should face some tough questions.

Terrorist has now long range weapon with good accuracy . Attack on Musharraf plane from populated area.
Some weapon in and around Peshawar area...

 

[Capt.Popeye]

This airport / base should be closed and moved to a new safer location!!

That will need humongous amounts of "paisa". Not to mention the time required.
It will be cheaper and more sensible to improve Security at the Air Base instead.

 

[HAIDER]

I dont think the pilot turning off lights at landing has anything to do with trying to the visibility of plane from outside.
It is a standard procedure designed to help passenger's eye accommodate to darkness so that in case of an emergency (which is most likely while landing or taking off), the passengers are able to see the emergency evacuation lights.

Those who travel Peshawar by air , know it very well. Before landing or away couple of mile from airport they turn off lights. Even its against CAA international law. But security comes first.

A day light landing at Peshawar airport....Its party turn above Barra ....

Dubai airport runway shutdown from today - Worldnews.com

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Terrorist has now long range weapon with good accuracy . Attack on Musharraf plane from populated area.
Some weapon in and around Peshawar area...

That is a really 'khatarnaak' picture there.
Those light ack-ack guns (in the foreground) can hit an aircraft in the air, while the RCL guns and mortars (in the background) can hit an airraft on the ground. Even RPGs are now common weapons in pakistan. Quite a deadly combination of weapons.

Those who travel Peshawar by air , know it very well. Before landing or away couple of mile from airport they turn off lights. Even its against CAA international law. But security comes first.

Turning off the cabin lights are not against CAA or FAA or International regns. In fact they are switched off to comply with regns. Nothing to do with terrorists.
The reason for that is explained in post#51.

 

[razgriz19]

Six bullets strike Pakistan International Airlines flight landing in Peshawar, killing a woman on board

Gunmen fired on a Pakistan International Airlines plane as it landed in the northern Pakistani city of Peshawar on Tuesday night, killing a woman on board and injuring three crew members in the third incident at a Pakistani airport this month.

The plane was carrying 178 passengers travelling from Saudi Arabia when it came under attack, policeman Asghar Khan said at the airport.

The plane was hit by six bullets, police said, killing the Pakistani woman and narrowly missing the captain. At least one bullet struck the plane's engine, police said.

The woman's daughter was sitting next to her when she was shot in the head, PIA official Mohammad Kifayatullah Khan said.

"When I went inside the plane, I saw the woman lying on the seat and her nine-year-old daughter was crying, 'My mother is dead, my mother is dead'," said Khan.

"All the passengers were panicked. Some of them wanted to get out as soon as possible because they were afraid of fire inside the plane."

The incident will raise further questions about whether the government is really prepared to retaliate against the Taliban after it announced a military operation to flush the militants from their mountain strongholds in North Waziristan on 15 June.

Pakistani jets have pounded suspected militant hideouts and the Taliban have vowed counter-attacks.

On 8 June, 10 Taliban gunmen attacked the airport in the southern port city of Karachi, Pakistan's financial heart and home to 18 million people. Thirty-four people were killed in the five-hour gunbattle. The Taliban fired on an academy for the security forces at the airport two days later.

 

[AugenBlick]

Well pakistani air travellers have been in for a chaos recently,
Karachi attack, Lahore TuQ fiasko and peshawar shooting.
This will take real toll on the economy and international image of Pak.
anyway RIP to the innocent victim.

 

[razgriz19]

How bad is the A310?

a bullet penetrated the engine, a bunch of them in the cabin of course, and one miss the pilot.
read it on some article.

It will be grounded for a few weeks for sure.

The effective range of an AK is quite a bit less than that. If the news of casualties is correct, then the aircraft was punctured by bullets which is serious, even the cockpit would be easy to hit.

However, please remember that approach "funnel area" at the Runway threshold extends quite a bit onwards and it incorporates both the "over-run" gravel/sand area and then the approach lighting even beyond that. All of that is (or should be) well secured within the Airfield Perimeter and regularly well patrolled.

Even more so in light of the recent JIA attack. So still its not completely plausible.

This is from Toronto Pearson Airport, I work near the airport and i've seen how close they are to the ground on short final.
even a hand gun can penetrate the cabin

 

[Sliver]

How can someone fire at the flight? After such a brazen attack on an airport, security should have been beefed up. It is appalling to see that gun trotting people can "enter" an international airport this easily. It is going to be a cause of concern for other countries.

 

[AugenBlick]

How can someone fire at the flight? After such a brazen attack on an airport, security should have been beefed up. It is appalling to see that gun trotting people can "enter" an international airport this easily. It is going to be a cause of concern for other countries.

happened outside the airport when the flight was preparing to land and flying low.

nine-year-old daughter was crying, 'My mother is dead, my mother is dead'," said Khan.

Thats f**ked up $hit right there. poor child.