Karachi: An 11-member team of technical experts of Airbus aerospace company visited the Jinnah International Airport here Wednesday. They inspected the runway, air traffic control tower and radar control station as part of its initial investigation into the PIA air crash involving its aircraft that killed 97 people, media reports said.
The team of experts from an Airbus facility in the French city of Toulouse reached here Monday to carry out an independent probe into Friday’s mishap.
The crash involved the Netherlands-headquartered international aerospace company’s Airbus A-320, which plunged into a residential area minutes before landing reportedly due to engine failure.
The team inspected the runway of the Jinnah International Airport here, where the plane made a failed attempt to land before going up and crashing in a nearby residential area, ‘The Express Tribune’ said. Members of the team also visited the air traffic control tower and the radar control station.
The team will also inspect the mishap site where the national flag carrier’s flight PK-8303 from Lahore crash landed, the report said. The experts will also provide technical assistance to their Pakistani counterparts to investigate the reasons behind the crash.
The experts are expected to take the aircraft’s black box recorder which contains the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder and any other evidence that would help with the investigation, the report said. The team will fly back to France after completing the 16-hour investigation, the report said.
Pakistan aviation authorities have said they have shared the findings of their initial investigation into the crash with the Airbus team.
“We are providing all possible assistance to the technical experts of Airbus,” Abdul Hafeez, a spokesperson for PIA, was quoted as saying by the ‘Dawn’ newspaper. He also said houses damaged in the residential area due to the crash will also be compensated.
PTI
PIA, Airbus, French experts, Crash, Aviation
