Govt seeks explanation from aviation body on CAA’s letter

The Government of Pakistan (GoP) has sought a clarification from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for writing a letter to the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

The CAA said in a letter on June 2 that the pilot that crashed near Karachi airport last month didn’t adhere to the instructions of air-traffic controllers (ATC).

However, according to the GoP, this was the kind of information that had to be provided to the inquiry board already set up to probe the May 22 crash which killed 97 people, including three children, and two passengers miraculously survived.

Plane crash: The pilot did not follow the instructions of the air traffic controller: CAA

“We have sought an explanation from the CAA official (for writing a letter to PIA implying that the pilot of the PK-8303 flight did not follow the instructions of ATC). As long as the inquiry report is not finalized, the official in question should not have spoken up (publicly). Whatever the official/CAA had to say should have been told to the four-member inquiry board probing the crash,” said Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan at a press conference on Thursday.

The minister said the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder were with the French team that visited Pakistan and data from the two recorders had successfully been downloaded. The govt would make the preliminary report about the crash public on June 22.

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The release of the preliminary probe report on the Karachi incident would be followed by release of reports on the Chitral crash, Gilgit crash-landing, and crashes of the planes of Air Blue and Bhoja Air in Islamabad, he added.

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