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Airbus A320 with 107 people aboard crashes in residential area of Karachi in Pakistan

Airbus Jr

Banned
It is believed the plane tried to land up to three times before the crash happened

A Pakistan International Airlines Airbus A320 passenger plane carrying more than 100 people today crashed into a residential area of Karachi.

Photos show plumes of billowing smoke after the Pakistan International Airlines plane smashed into the residential area.

Pakistan's aviation authority Abdul Sattar Khokhar said: 'We are trying to confirm the number of passengers but initially it is 99 passengers and eight crew members.'

More photos have emerged from residents showing rubble and debris strewn across the area.

The Airbus had been flying from Lahor to Jinnah before it went down in the Model Colony area as it began its final approach to land at Karachi airport.

Witnesses said the Airbus A320 appeared to attempt to land two or three times before crashing in a residential area near Jinnah International Airport.

The crash comes just days after the country began allowing commercial flights to resume.

RIP for the victim and family
 
There is a vid up on liveleak showing blurred images including communication between atc and crew. Nothing graphic. Rip.
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
Both engines? How does that even happen these days?

Engine and landing gear problems? Some sort of explosion can cause issues with controlling both. Hydraulic or electrical lines severed, etc. Explosive decompression can cause it, or uncontained engine failure, or a bomb....
 
As an ex flight attendant what pisses me off about this news is how the media (local media mostly) are reporting this. They keep mentioning the number 99 or 100. Yes thats PAX but why are you not mentioning extra 10 crew who were on that flight and died as well. They should say 108 or 110 people have died in the crash but for some reason they keep the crew out of the equation which is insulting.

Thaedolus Thaedolus

Actually nush nush pointed out a good question. Most planes today are dual engined. An engine failure can slow down the flight time of the aircraft but can still fly with only one engine to its destination. Having both engines catch fire and failing is unheard off in modern aviation. Unless it was man made mistake as an engineer fucked up big time or malitiously, only other thing I can think off is they ran into a flock of birds but that is so damn rare that birds would be caught in both engines. And even when they are, its not like in the movies where the bird always brings a plane down. Depending on size and entry point, mostly the bird would be turned into slush in 1 second as if nothing happened. But both engines? Something is not right here.
 
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haxan7

Volunteered as Tribute
Both engines? How does that even happen these days?
I watched a video a month or so ago showing the extensive daily maintenance that the crew at Dulles International has to do every day to keep the grounded planes in flight ready condition for when the lockdowns ended.

Seemed like a really intense job. My guess is the maintenance crews let something slip on the plane that crashed. I remember thinking to myself after watching that vid there’s no way I’m getting back on a plane until air travel was back to normal for a long time.
 
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Scotty W

Gold Member
I watched a video a month or so ago showing the extensive daily maintenance that the crew at Dulles International has to do every day to keep the grounded planes in flight ready condition for when the lockdowns ended.

Seemed like a really intense job. My guess is the maintenance crews let something slip on the plane that crashed. I remember thinking to myself after watching that vid there’s no way I’m getting back on a plane until air travel was back to normal for a long time.
This is probably the reason.
 

MilkLizard

Member
As an ex flight attendant what pisses me off about this news is how the media (local media mostly) are reporting this. They keep mentioning the number 99 or 100. Yes thats PAX but why are you not mentioning extra 10 crew who were on that flight and died as well. They should say 108 or 110 people have died in the crash but for some reason they keep the crew out of the equation which is insulting.

Thaedolus Thaedolus

Actually nush nush pointed out a good question. Most planes today are dual engined. An engine failure can slow down the flight time of the aircraft but can still fly with only one engine to its destination. Having both engines catch fire and failing is unheard off in modern aviation. Unless it was man made mistake as an engineer fucked up big time or malitiously, only other thing I can think off is they ran into a flock of birds but that is so damn rare that birds would be caught in both engines. And even when they are, its not like in the movies where the bird always brings a plane down. Depending on size and entry point, mostly the bird would be turned into slush in 1 second as if nothing happened. But both engines? Something is not right here.

While I agree with you I doubt an Airbus 320 had 10 crew members. More like 5, maybe 6 max. Not that it changes anything...
 

Chittagong

Gold Member
Yeah unfortunately this is bound to happen in the next year a lot as planes will have been out of service for an unusual amount of time. Just by the sheer number of grounded planes there will be a couple that slip through not properly maintained.

I made the decision to fly private until the end of 2021. 27 flight hours in total.
 
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Reactions: jts

Despera

Banned
RIP

Just a few days ago I was in a call with a friend talking about the inevitable surge in the number of plane crashes and accidents once we're able to fly again.
 

jts

...hate me...
The risks of getting planes back on the air after flight bans get lifted also occurred to me as soon as air travel came to a halt, but honestly, can the flight industry really afford a scare after this already massive crisis? I think if the industry is smart it will double down on check-up and maintenance procedures or it risks not seeing the bottom of this crisis.

This happened in Pakistan, and it’s no less of a tragedy for it, but it is a way more predictable place where safety procedures wouldn’t be as tightly followed due to budget / staff / corruption issues etc. Same for small south american airlines and other cheap companies around the world, in which I wouldn’t risk fly now, and not sure I’d risk fly ever.
 

Thaedolus

Gold Member
As an ex flight attendant what pisses me off about this news is how the media (local media mostly) are reporting this. They keep mentioning the number 99 or 100. Yes thats PAX but why are you not mentioning extra 10 crew who were on that flight and died as well. They should say 108 or 110 people have died in the crash but for some reason they keep the crew out of the equation which is insulting.

Thaedolus Thaedolus

Actually nush nush pointed out a good question. Most planes today are dual engined. An engine failure can slow down the flight time of the aircraft but can still fly with only one engine to its destination. Having both engines catch fire and failing is unheard off in modern aviation. Unless it was man made mistake as an engineer fucked up big time or malitiously, only other thing I can think off is they ran into a flock of birds but that is so damn rare that birds would be caught in both engines. And even when they are, its not like in the movies where the bird always brings a plane down. Depending on size and entry point, mostly the bird would be turned into slush in 1 second as if nothing happened. But both engines? Something is not right here.

Right, I know all large Airbus planes have at least two engines...that's why I'm speculating about what could cause both engines to fail plus have landing gear issues. To me that sounds like a different root cause than multiple engine failures. Something other than engine failure happened which then led to landing gear issues, engines catching fire, etc. IMO. It makes me think there must've been some sort of explosion, malicious or not, which could cause multiple systems to fail, or cause a cascade of failures.
 
Yeah it's an odd situation to scrap both engines like that, lots of important components on the underside of those CFM56 engines, not surprised it didn't last long in the air after the go around.
 

Jezbollah

Member
AV Herald reporting the gear up touchdown.


How the fuck they didnt notice this on pre landing checklist is beyond me. Utterly negligent.
 
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