The Airbus SE A320 slipped into a neighborhood killing 97 of the 99 people on board
A fatal plane crash in Pakistan raises questions about how the crew could land without a landing gear as their sophisticated airliner bristled with equipment to prevent pilots from doing just that.
After an abrupt descent which had annoyed the air traffic controllers, the pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines plane briefly put the plane on the runway without the landing gear on Friday, grinding on its two engines at a higher speed 327 kilometers (203 miles per hour), according to preliminary data.
The pilots aborted the landing attempt, going up in the sky, but reported shortly after they had lost power. The Airbus SE A320 apparently slipped into a neighborhood as the pilots attempted to return to the same runway, killing 97 of the 99 people on board.
“It is incredible to me that an airline crew on a jet like an Airbus, with all the warning systems, tries to land without the train being deployed,” said consultant John Cox. in aviation safety who previously piloted the A320 as an American Airline Pilot.
In addition to checklists designed to ensure pilots do not attempt to land without the landing gear, the jetliner has several warning systems designed to alert crews if they forget or that the train does not work.
“The plane is not happy that you are so close to the ground without leaving the train,” said Cox, president of the consulting firm Safety Operating Systems.
It is not yet known why the two jet engines stop after operating well enough for about two minutes to lift them about 915 meters above the runway. The engines have become so reliable that the loss of two at the same time is almost always due to a common factor, such as damage from a collision with a runway or a fuel supply problem.
In any event, the bizarre landing attempt – which was made without any indication from the crew that they had had an emergency during their initial descent – triggered the accident or was a catalyst that made matters worse, according to Cox and others who have studied the crashes.
A spokesman for Pakistan International declined to comment on the “incomplete information”. An Airbus spokesperson referred questions to the Pakistani authorities. Civil Aviation spokesman Abdul Sattar Khokhar did not answer a call on his cell phone.
On Friday afternoon, as flight 8303 from Lahore approached Karachi International Airport, air traffic controllers feared it would not be on the right path, according to a report quoted by Sky News. A controller warned the pilots that they were “high” and urged them to adapt, according to the leaked preliminary report.
Turn around
“We are comfortable. We can do it,” said the pilot to the controller, according to a recording from Karachi air traffic radio published on LiveATC.net.
Twice as the aircraft approached the runway, a controller told the pilots to turn and abort their approach, the report said. Again, the pilot refused, responding to the radio that he was “comfortable” and was ready to land on runway 25-left.
According to radio calls, the pilots did not at any time declare having had a problem with their landing gear or any other type of emergency.
Approaching a runway with such a rapid descent, which often leads to higher than recommended speeds, is a warning sign of danger, according to decades of warnings from investigative bodies such as the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States and the non-profit Flight Safety Foundation.
After the controllers finally cleared the plane to land – despite their previous warnings – the pilot replied “Roger”. In the background, the sound of a cockpit warning chime can be heard.
Too much energy
The airliner was well above normal speed when approaching the runway, said Jeffrey Guzzetti, the former chief accident investigator for the United States Federal Aviation Administration. It was traveling about 250 miles an hour at around 1,000 feet above the ground, according to the Flightradar24 tracking site.
It’s more than 80 km / h faster than for jet planes like the A320, said Guzzetti.
“They have too much energy for a normal landing,” he said.
This not only increases the chances of skidding on the runway, but puts additional pressure on the pilots to slow the big jet and can lead to other problems.
Flightradar24 data suggests that the aircraft was traveling 375 kilometers (233 miles) per hour when it reached the runway and slowed to approximately 327 kilometers per hour on take-off. The data have not been validated by the investigators.
While it is possible that, in the chaos and confusion, they forgot the landing gear, it’s still confusing, according to Guzzetti and Cox.
Computer system
The A320’s on-board computer system both sounds a warning sound and turns on a light to draw attention to a text message if the train is not out when the aircraft approaches the ground.
A separate security system designed to prevent aircraft from inadvertently hitting the ground also detects when the train is not deployed prior to landing. Her recorded voice repeatedly said “Too low, speed” if the problem persists.
The pre-landing checklists also require crews to verify that the aircraft’s instruments show that the train is locked in place.
“It is very unusual in modern transportation class aircraft to have a trainless landing, simply because the checklist and warnings sound,” said Guzzetti.
At around 2:34 p.m., the aircraft struck the runway. Its engines left a series of black spots, starting at 4,500 feet from the start of the runway, according to a video of the runway released by the media. It shows three separate patches, as if the plane was jumping in the air between the impacts.
“Go around,” an aircraft pilot told controllers, the term to abort a landing and take off again.
The aircraft climbed to approximately 3,000 feet, but was unable to maintain altitude, according to radio transmissions and flight data.
“Sir, we have lost engines,” said one pilot. Then, 30 seconds later, he said, “Mayday. Mayday. Mayday.”
A few seconds later, the aircraft touched down.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
