The unfortunate next of kin of AirBlue crash victims have to endure the incompetence and corruption of CAA monopolised by retired officers of our uniformed services, who have either a conflict of interest or absolutely no experience in commercial civil air transport industry. AirBlue continues to delay due compensation to families with the collusion of a pliant CAA run by corrupt former bureaucrats that can easily delay a credible report.The age of superannuation varies from country to country and depends on life expectancy, availability of medical facilities on a 24-hour basis and research in the field of medicine in that country. In advanced countries the age of superannuation is above 65 or 67 years, because average national life expectancy is in this bracket, unlike Pakistan where it is below 55 years.
There is no medical research unit within CAA to monitor decadence of our biological and mental faculties in the grim situation that exists in Pakistan. The pilot of the ill-fated Airblue was above 60 years. Medical science has proven that reflex action deteriorates with age advancement. It is this degraded reflex action which may have contributed to this crash, because the crashed aircraft A320 was an advanced state of art technology with no known history of malfunction.
It is time CAA be run professionally instead of becoming a dumping ground for aged officers of the aviation wings of our uniformed services. CAA personnel should be experienced and conversant with technological advances in aviation. There is no room for compromises or complacency in aviation, because the results will be a fatal disaster as was the case in Air Blue.
IMRAN NAZEER
Lahore
