A series of crashes, starting from Air Blue to leased Russian Cargo freighter and Bhoja Air raises many question and the most tragic and shocking of them is “Who will regulate the regulator?”, when it is stuffed with either incompetent, or corrupt cronies and administratively under control of a controversial minister with an equally more questionable bureaucracy that dominates this ministry.
Why should CAA have told lies about the collapsed left landing gear of Shaheen Air’s Boeing 737 at Karachi Airport on April 22 and try to cover it up by mis-stating facts that tyres had burst. Does CAA understand the importance of its credibility, which once eroded can shatter confidence of the travelling public, whose taxes and revenues it survives upon and whose sole interest it is supposed to safeguard.
It is the responsibility of CAA to grant an Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) only after all requirements has been met.
For instance, all passengers travelling on PIA are insured through a local company with London Underwriters group of insurance companies, which is an internationally reputed aviation consortium. Were the emergency doors equipped with emergency chutes on this Shaheen Air aircraft serviceable and accessible and their staff trained for mandatory emergency evacuation within 90 seconds that is required by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)? An active runway at Karachi International Airport, which houses offices of DGCA and its top heavy, politically appointed executive corridor, was shut down for over eight hours, causing inconvenience to thousands of passengers whose flights were diverted to alternate airports and millions of rupees worth fuel wasted.
Proper compensation to heirs of 146 passengers of Air Blue A321 that crashed on June 28, 2010 is withheld because Accident Investigation Report is not conclusive, since passenger insurance cover hikes up if the Airline Operator or Regulator is found guilty of committing any lapses.
Why did CAA lie in case of Shaheen Air collapsed landing gear structure? It hardly takes 30 minutes to replace burst tyres and not eight hours. A burst tyre on landing is not an emergency but an abnormality, because these tyres are designed to deflate in case of hard landings or extraordinary high brakes application by the pilot or malfunction of anti-skid system on landing.
It was a ‘conflict of interest’ which played a vital role when CAA dominated by retired or serving PAF officers granted an AOC to Shaheen Air, than exclusively owned by Shaheen Foundation to operate an obsolete series of Boeing 737-200 aircrafts.
It was Shaheen Air whose Boeing 737 landing gear collapsed on landing at Karachi and yet neither the airline, nor Control Tower and CAA ordered an emergency evacuation, which as per ICAO laws should be completed within 90 seconds. The primary purpose of installing several doors equipped with emergency chutes manned by trained cabin crew is to assist in emergency evacuation in case of an accident or incident.
It is shocking that CAA should be lying so brazenly, hiding facts from public, when its job is to protect public interest and ensure flight safety. Unfortunate but sad reality that lawless has crept to every institution in Pakistan. No wonder our airlines are banned so frequently, and fatal crashes happen, but nobody in govt is bothered becse they all fly on VIP aircrafts.
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