PK-661 tragedy: Pilot sent out distress call soon after taking off

As the country still tries to grapple with the tragedy of the crashed Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-661, details have started emerging regarding what went on a few minutes before the crash.

According to the details provided, the pilot of the ATR-42 tried to contact the traffic control tower soon after he took off from Chitral on Wednesday. The plane was carrying 42 passengers and five crew members and it crash landed near Abbottabad.

According to the latest details, the pilot of the plane, Captain Saleh Yar Janjua sent a distress call to the control tower at 4:12 pm. During the call he told the control tower that the left engine of the plane was not functioning and moments later he shouted out ‘Mayday! Mayday”.

After a few moments of that distress call, the plane vanished from the radar and crashed into the mountains of Batloni village of Havelian, which is located 32 nautical miles from Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

Since issuing the distress call at 4:12 pm, arrangements were being made at the airport for an emergency landing of the plane and fire brigade had also been called to put out the fire in case the plane caught it. Sadly, the ill-fated flight never made it that far.

The ATRs can easily glide for a few miles even if the engines stop function, but since this plane did not, it is being speculated that the structure of the plane got damaged. From the information that is available so far, it is being speculated that when the left engine malfunctioned, it blew up and damaged the propeller of the plane, disturbing the aerodynamics and hence leading to a drastic descent and eventual crash.

The pilot did manage to steer the plane away from a village and crash landed it at a place where there was no population.

Exact details of what actually went down will be known when investigations are completed.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=54226

Posted by fatimaarshad on Dec 9 2016. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.