I haven't heard of an accident where a a/c was brought down by lightning alone (stand to be corrected)...but you never know.

Can't believe such old aircraft are in service. I know if an a/c is maintained well it can last for years (WW2 a/c etc) but I think 32 years for a commercial a/c is pushing it.

Will wait for the report before I jump to conclusions though...

Aviation Herald is now reporting that the aircraft was, in fact, AP-BKC. This was also an ex-BA/Comair aircraft dating from 1984 (formerly G-BKYI, ZS-OLB).

Since its Pakistan, shouldn't experience lead us to believe the report will never be released?

Iran Air (sister ship of TWA800).

Obviously extremely rare and even more so today

It aint the years of service, its the flight cycles and the repair cycles.

Well, maybe the findings are toward India.....

Heavy rain and storm at the time of crash
 

There was heavy rain and storm at the time of accident,127 on board including 6 crew members.Captain was ex Group Captain Pakistan Airforce,

So far there are different reports, Lightning,one eye witness said,and rumors are Plane,s ILS was faulty,Don,t know.

40 houses damaged .

OPRN 201400Z 23020KT 3000 TSRA FEW025CB SCT030 BKN100 20/16 Q1011.0/29.85

Nb. Islamabad (ISB/OPRN) has the following approach to Runway 30 (runway QDM = 296 degrees) :

ILS DME - inbound QDM = 296 degrees / visibility minima for Cat C aircraft = 700m
ILS LOC - inbound QDM = 296 degrees / visibility minima for Cat C aircraft = 750m
VOR DME - inbound QDM = 296 degrees / visibility minima for Cat C aircraft = 1100m
VOR Circling - inbound QDM = 340 degrees / visibility minima for Cat C aircraft = 2400m
NDB Circling - inbound QDM = 320 degrees / visibility minima for Cat C aircraft = 2400m

Had they been following a standard 3 degree approach, in the above reported (METAR) visibility of 3000 metres (approx 1.6Nm), they should have expect to see the runway when at approximately 500 feet above ground level.

If Pakistani news reports are correct, i.e. that they crashed at / into the village of 'Hussain Abad' ( N33° 35' 19.48" / E073° 8' 51.69" ), that puts the crash site approximately 2.1 Nm short of the threshold for R30. It is also approximately 0.3 Nm to left of the R30 extended centreline.

Given that they should have been following a 3 degree glide path (regardless of the approach type), this might suggest that - at the point of impact - they were approximately 600 feet below an ideal (3 degree) glide path and also substantially left of the centreline of R30.

Just my $0.02 worth.

Data from Airfleets.net
 

Delivery date Airline Registration Remark
23/02/1980 British Airways G-BGDD
21/04/1995 Transavia Airlines PH-TSE
13/09/1995 Comair ZS-NNG Stored 01/2011
10/02/2012 Bhoja Air AP-BKD 20/04/12 Crashed Islamabad

Lansa Flight 508 - struck by lightning which ignited the ullage in the wing tanks.

LANSA Flight 508 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Panam 707 over Maryland in '60's

Iranian AF 747 near Madrid - I forget the date

arem the Iranian AF 747 was ULF48 and the date was May 9, 1976

CSRTG Aircraft Accident Database

BBC is reporting that wreckage is scattered over several kilometers.
If this is true (early reports are always suspect) it would indicate an inflight breakup of some kind.

OTOH, in bad weather lightweight debris can be scattered by high winds.
The scattered debris could also be domestic rather than aircraft related if the aircraft ploughed through several houses before coming to a stop.

Err....usually impact before the threshold tends to indicate that. Are you a rocket scientist by any chance?

Lightening strike & port wing on fire. An eyewitness snapped off a few pictures before the crash. The atittude suddenly shifted after the strike.
This has hit somewhat close to home. Both the Captain & Co-pilot were ex PAF & friends of both my uncle(ex PAF) (married to my aunt) & best friend's father (in service AVM). I even met the capt as a kid once when visiting my aunt. Sad day. The airline was idle from 93-2012 not only due to finances but also it's maintenance practices. They used to send landing gear tyres tp car tyre repair shops to be serviced. What do you expect. A PIA flight was diverted to Lahore just before. Unfortunately if Captain Afridi had diverted the airline Bhoja would have canned him for making them suffer an economic loss. The bloody bas*** are selling the passenger manifest for Rs 20 to the families even now!

Checks "not fully adhered to"
 

The inauguration of Bhoja Air on March 3 2012 was only possible following the exertion of immense political pressure on the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) resulting in Friday's disaster, according to TheNews.com/pk. The CAA sources have said that the old plane was allowed to commence flights from April 20 although procedures and professional checks were not fully adhered to before doling out a licence to the Bhoja Air as a political favour.

This article also mentions several other disquieting details about the company:
Political pressure allowed Bhoja Air to relaunch - thenews.com.pk

Seems there should be a Category 3 or lower for some countries :ugh:

Just listening to BBC.
Airline reportedly said pilot was highly experienced,weather was to blame...
But who lead this aircaft into that weather??:ugh:

[not a pilot] Perhaps an investigation will not be necessary:

Bhoja Air crash: ‘Acceleration at low height caused mid-air explosion’ – The Express Tribune

@umairch: Are you able to provide a link to the pictures?

Just heard an interview on a ZA news broadcast with someone from Comair who said they they sold 2 a/c last year to Bhoja Air. They say both were in service with them until 2010 but can't confirm if the one in this accident is one of those.