PIA A-320 crash in Karachi

[CYXR 257]

The crash occurred in a dense residential area. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pakistan-plane-crash-reportedly-leaves-scores-dead-near-karachi-today-2020-05-22/

 

[biloo 20]

A tragic news and it occurred when stranded families and working employees were returning home for Eid holidays this long weekend.

Last ATC audio released into media the pilots indicated loss of engines on approach and indicated unable to land the planes on any two runways made available by control tower. 

An eye witness described the plane was getting heavy on its tail end of fuselage as it was on final approach before it crashed into 4 houses below destroying 8 houses in the area.

So far a pilot has been found dead. While rescue operations are still underway.

May God bless the souls deceased and help families inflicted by the accident.

[Chock 17,769]

Doesn't look good at all from the various bits of news footage. It's come down on densely packed multi-storey buildings and witnesses are saying the was an explosion and fireball on impact.

[MaDDogz 242]

https://news.abplive.com/live-tv

[threexgreen 3,139]

If we're looking for verified in-depth information I suggest going with an aviation site. Much more information in this article already which gets updated hourly-ish.

What strikes me as odd are the dark marks on the undersides of both engines on this photograph showing the aircraft after the go-around. You can also see the nose gear, which apparently was causing trouble on the first approach, down with the wheel well doors closed and the RAT deployed, so likely at this point with both engines lost.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4d7a6e9a&opt=0

Edit: Most importantly, there are reports of survivors.

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by threegreen

[KevinAu 441]

14 minutes ago, threegreen said:

If we're looking for verified in-depth information I suggest going with an aviation site. Much more information in this article already which gets updated hourly-ish. What strikes me as odd are the dark marks on the undersides of both engines on this photograph showing the aircraft after the go-around.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4d7a6e9a&opt=0

 

Those are nothing more than dirt and grime streaks. The rat is also not deployed in that picture. It looks like just a file photo.

[threexgreen 3,139]

39 minutes ago, KevinAu said:

Those are nothing more than dirt and grime streaks. The rat is also not deployed in that picture. It looks like just a file photo.

It's really hard to see, but if you zoom in and with brightness turned up it looks like the RAT is deployed (RAT itself plus the doors in front of it).

Edit: That picture has been taken down and there are new pictures now that do show the aircraft with the gear up and RAT deployed. The marks on the undersides of the engines also look rather severe like scrape marks. This might go in hand with reports that the aircraft attempted to belly land before going around, which might have damaged the engines resulting in the engine failures that the pilots reported to ATC.

Edited May 22, 2020 by threegreen

[scianoir 610]

2 hours ago, biloo said:

indicated loss of engines on approach

It’s unusual to lose both engines at once so, when I initially read this, the first thing that came to mind, given the phase of flight, was the BA 777 accident at Heathrow some years ago.

RIP to all those who lost their lives.

Bill

[HighBypass 2,339]

One of the surprising points I'm observing here is that IF a belly landing caused the scrape marks on the underside of both engines is that the plane managed to get airborne again for the go-around; must have been a relatively gentle impact... but possibly (my speculation) hard enough to damage both engines so that the RAT was required and subsequently caused both engines to shutdown,or were deliberately shut down by the crew because they had little other choice. AV Herald reports the crew telling ATC they'd lost both engines which is different to saying they had to shut them down. However, better to turn the plane into a glider than a fireball, not knowing the outcome.

[Chock 17,769]

Two survivors according to a recent news report. Of course they will probably be in a bad way, but fingers crossed for their recovery.

There is some (what looks like phone or security camera) footage of the aircraft coming down incidentally. The aeroplane is really nose high, very high angle of attack, with probably only the fly by wire stopping it from stalling/spinning in. There is a very large fireball a moment after impact.

From aerial footage, it looks like the site of the crash is only a couple of hundred feet from the airfield perimeter. Agonisingly close to making it on to the field, where rescue efforts would have been easier. Just two or three more seconds in the air and it probably would have come down on the airfield, avoiding all the buildings, which might possibly have reduced the number of casualties. Very sad indeed.

Apparently, there are reports that bird strikes are quite a significant risk at that airport.

In other news. Did anyone see the reports of the Swift Air Boeing 737 which lost its dorsal fin in flight earlier this week? Pretty scary looking damage to the horizontal stabiliser from where the fin has impacted it when it separated.

Pics here

 

Edited May 22, 2020 by Chock

[vc10man 732]

9 hours ago, scianoir said:

It’s unusual to lose both engines at once so, when I initially read this, the first thing that came to mind, given the phase of flight, was the BA 777 accident at Heathrow some years ago.

RIP to all those who lost their lives.

Bill

Thought the same too,except in this case it being the height of their summer, I ruled that BA777 fuel thing out.

Nevertheless, any loss of life, is a sad, bit of news to read. R.I.P. to all, and comfort to the bereaved families on the eve of their biggest feastday.🙏

[TuFun 436]

You can see the landing gear is down before the crash plus some ATC communications.

 

Pakistan International Airlines Crash of Flight 8303

[vc10man 732]

37 minutes ago, Chock said:

site of the crash is only a couple of hundred feet from the airfield perimeter

In the Indian sub-continent, it is fairly common due to lack of space, for dwellings to be built almost on the perimeter. Having flown out of Bombay several times,it never ceases to amaze me how authorities allow such densely-populated dwellings to be built so close by. Footage of that link you have provided would confirm that loss of lives and dwellings to be on par. Even from the rooftop afar, it looks bad.

[Bob Scott 7,721]

5 hours ago, vc10man said:

In the Indian sub-continent, it is fairly common due to lack of space, for dwellings to be built almost on the perimeter. Having flown out of Bombay several times,it never ceases to amaze me how authorities allow such densely-populated dwellings to be built so close by. Footage of that link you have provided would confirm that loss of lives and dwellings to be on par. Even from the rooftop afar, it looks bad.

It's not just India.  Back before the wall came down and they closed Berlin Templehof we used to fly the German Chancellor into Berlin in the C-20A (USAF Gulfstream III) when he needed to go there since only the US, France, UK, and Russia--the four original signatories to the surrender agreement--were allowed to operate state aircraft in the Berlin Corridor.  The ILS at EDDI put you right between apartment buildings so close I swore I was going to end up picking some Hausfrau's laundry off the balcony rail with my winglets.

The CVR and DFDR are going to tell the real story on the PIA crash.  It's hard to imagine a trained crew flying through all the warnings to a gear-up landing...I'd think it more likely they either got behind and decided to go around and try again, or something else happened to force a go around, and then maybe they pulled up the gear too early and ended up touching down gear-up during the go around.  Those skid marks and the deployed RAT tell a pretty ugly tale...it's likely that the rest of the story is just as ugly.

[HighBypass 2,339]

As ever, Juan Brown (blancolirio channel) is the go-to guy and it's his video which Ted linked to.😎