If this is true, it is absolutely frightening to think that a person feels he/she has the right to assume such a responsible job without the proper credentials.
And even more frightening to learn that aviation officials aided such criminal behaviour.

It was widely reported at the time of the accident. I'm surprised you are surprised.

Indeed
unfortunately much more to the story 😐
That being said it seems both pilots in this case had proper paperwork. Not that it really mattered.

Physical status of crew?
 

It seems that that PIA8303 is normally scheduled to depart Lahore at 10:00 local time. Based on the accident time, it is likely that the actual departure was delayed by about 3 hours. The cause of the delay may shed light on possible waiting conditions of the crew. At midday, the temperature in Lahore was 42C.

It will be interesting to eventually know if the accident investigation considers what time the flight crew actually showed up for duty and under what environmental conditions they waited for late departure. Could the pilots have been fatigued or otherwise impaired?

If the APU was not available due to unserviceability, company procedures for extended ground use, or insufficient fuel to accommodate extended APU use, the aircraft interior temperature could be very high with OAT of 42C or greater.

Impaired or not, they were not conducting them selves in a profesional manner according to the government minister and were non standard throughout

First anniversary PIA 8303
 

This remarkable tragic accident occurred 22 May 2020.

update edit: We await the official final Pakistani report with interest.
AV Herald has an update 21/5/2021

I'd estimate that the average time taken for the investigation report into any fatal airliner accident to appear is around a year, maybe longer.

For example the NTSB's report on the October 2019 Penn Air accident in Alaska is still awaited, more than 18 months after the event, so it's a tad unfair to single out the Pakistan AAIB.

at least there's an interim statement of Pakistan CAA today.

Really? Where is it published? Please provide a link...I am assuming it is translated into the English language.

Is there rear fuselage damage underneath towards the tail looking aft of the left cabin door? The picture does show RAT extended and damage to both engine nacelles.

RoyHudd

It's in here, just scroll down until you get to it

Crash: PIA A320 at Karachi on May 22nd 2020, impacted residential area during final approach, both engines failed as result of a gear up touchdown

568

No, it's quite unlikely given the geometry.

The element sticking out below the aft door is a water drain mast. Often gets damaged first during tail scrapes, seeing it intact has a meaning of its own. The other blurred part under the tail cone is the contour of APU inlet door overlapping the visible part of the elevator from the far side.



https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ef09f2e02e.jpg

Airplane Geometry is not a factor. As you can see in this photo the engine nacelles are the only parts of the airplane structure that is in contact with the runway.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....ace709f1d.jpeg

So, it is a factor for NOT scraping the tail, right? With wheels up, the tear would be much forward.

​​​​

Thanks for the brilliant graphic and response.

Is there an official comprehensive final report yet for this accident?

PIA 8303
Today is the third anniversary of this tragic accident.
Although a preliminary report has been published, the final report has yet to be released.

Many years ago I was running some tests on a piece of commercial,non aviation, software when it "misbehaved".
I showed it to the programmer who looked quizzical and said "I wondered if it would do that".
Software, in all environments, has evolved but testing still depends (to a degree) on the tester trying to outwit the programmer!

Hi Timmy,
it seems reasonable, pending a final report, to assume the crew was not following standard procedures. The big question is “why not?”. If it is because of impaired physical or mental state, a target of the enquiry might be along those lines, rather than concentrating on the mechanics of the the destruction of an apparently serviceable aircraft and the deaths of those on board.
P.S. My money would be on severe dehydration with resultant adverse mental state.
P.P.S. If I’m right, how confident could one be that this appears in the final report?