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PIA flight lands at Air Force base in KarachiPublished: Sunday, 18 December, 2005, 08:40 AM Doha Time
KARACHI: A Boeing 737 landed at the Faisal Base of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) instead of Quaid-i-Azam International Airport here, official sources said.
The sources said that the Dubai-Karachi flight PK-214 of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) carrying 142 passengers landed at the PAF base owing to pilot’s error and negligence of the air traffic controller at the Jinnah terminal.
The Boeing 737 is one of the five aircraft recently acquired by the PIA on wet lease from a Turkish company mainly for Haj operation. The aircraft carries the monogram of the Turkish company.
The sources said an inquiry had been initiated by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Turkish pilot, Erol Kastar, was sent to a pathological laboratory where his blood samples were obtained for test.
Under the international aviation rules a pilot is not allowed to fly if he or she has more than 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The rules ban pilots from having alcohol eight hours before reporting for duty.
The sources said that the PIA flight, which had the Turkish crew including a woman co-pilot, landed at the Faisal Base on Friday.
The security officials at the base immediately cordoned off the aircraft, which was later allowed to take off for the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport.
The sources said that the pilot contacted the radar approach controller when the plane was around 50 miles from Karachi for vectoring.
The aircraft was around four miles away from the Karachi airport when the pilot informed the radar controller that he was visible with the runway, they added.
The sources said that the radar approach controller asked the pilot to change over his frequency to the control tower for landing instructions. The pilot contacted the tower controller, who gave him clearance for landing after ascertaining that the pilot could see the runway. However, the pilot landed the plane on the PAF base.
“The pilot seems to be unfamiliar with the layout of the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport, or he was not imparted necessary training by PIA,” they added.
The sources said that the pilot might have confused the runway of the Karachi airport with that of the PAF Faisal Base due to a recent change in the direction of landing and take off. Aircraft usually land from the Malir side, they said.
Insiders said the tower controller gave clearance to the pilot without actually seeing the aircraft.
They said the air traffic controller was apparently overworked due to the extraordinary security arrangements on the runway for the prime minister’s plane, which was expected to arrive a couple of hours later.
The sources said air traffic controllers were already overburdened due to staff shortage and many of them were not even getting their weekly offs for the past 25 days.
Meanwhile, a PIA spokesman said: “A Boeing 737 aircraft owned by MNG and flown by Turkish company pilots, on wet lease to PIA, flying from Dubai to Karachi, inadvertently landed safely at the PAF Faisal Base. The cockpit crew had been withdrawn from flying duties with PIA.” - Internews