Bhoja Air Flight 213 Crash & CAA

On 20 April 2012, approx 18:40 pm PST,The Flight 213 lost the contact with control tower, a Boeing 737-200 (AP-BKC), Bhoja Air Flight 213 carrying 127 people on a flight from Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport destined for Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport crashed near Chaklala killing all on board. Pakistani Defense Ministry officials believe that the plane crashed into a remote residential area. There were also bad weather conditions, with lightning and rain pouring at the time of landing. Eye-witness reports say that the aircraft was already on fire on its landing approach before it crashed.Initial reports suggest that as the pilots of Bhoja Air Flight B4-213 attempted to land amidst rain and strong winds, the unlucky aircraft might have flown into an unexpected wind shear that possibly smashed it on the ground below. The aircraft had been retired by Shaheen Air, due to not having sufficient Engine thrust power, which led this plane to be grounded just a month back the same plane acquired and placed in service by Bhoja Air in March 2012.

The CAA officials knew that the plane is grounded due to technical faults, The Engine of this Boeing 737-200 had Thrust Combustion Issue, Even than it was given the clearance which shows how irresponsible Civil Aviation Authority is, Control Tower lost the contact with the plane but, before that Air Traffic Control could have warned the pilot of the flight 213 not to land ” Clearance ” Bhoja Aircraft which crashed

land and divert the flight to Lahore, which would have saved the lives of 127 People, Air Traffic Control did not made any attempt knowing that the weather is not suitable to land since ATC received twice warning from Meteorologic Department that Cloudy and Winds from North are not suitable for allowing Flights to Land or Take off, Meteorologic Department, First gave the warning at 1500 PST and revised it at 1800 PST, Officials at Air Traffic Control were aware of the weather situation while Flight 213 was getting closer to make a final approach, ATC given the permission to land, which we all seen and know that Flight 213 Landing gear was down means wheels were out before eye witness said “ they saw flames of fire falling down

“ Mid Air Explosion “

Now lets go point to point and see how it happened.

1. Meteorologist Department Informed Air Traffic Control at 1500 PST, That weather is not sufficient to land or to take off.

( Weather Warning 1500 PST to ATC Islamabad AirPort )

2. Meteorologist Department revised again given the same weather warning at 1800 PST that weather is not suitable for next an hour but ATC did not follow instruction Some Flights Took off and Authorized to land ( Ignored the Weather Warning )

3. Flight 213 must have been informed about Weather Warning is not suitable to land, ATC Ignored the warning and given clearance, authorized Flight 213 to land, That’s when Pilot turned Landing Gear DOWN. “ Means Wheels Open “

4. Pilot of Flight 213 and Control Tower Ignored weather warning did not told the Pilot to divert the flight route toLahore.

5. Flight 213 ignored the warning because in various conditions Pilots are experienced to land. And beside it private airlines save the fuel charges by not diverting.

6. It is obvious that the clearance was given to land because The Landing Gear were Down, means Aircraft is hardly 250kmph or 170 knots and constantly slowing down to make proper landing approach.

7. Particularly this aircraft was grounded was almost 10 years by Shaheen Air due to Technical Fault ” Engine Thrust ” It is important to have balanced thrust engine power when landing specially in bad weather condition.

8. Since it was ignored the Technical Fault by CAA and ATC given the clearance, Flight 213 was coming in direction of RUNWAY

9. In Islamabad ” ATC is still using old system ” ILS300 ” Instrument Landing System 300 means Aircraft should be in range of 300 meters to be fully engaged, which this aircraft wasn’t, after being engaged with ILS300 Radars and Aircraft’s instruments do the final adjustments to make easier and safer approach.

0. At 1840 PST Flight 213 went down, eye witness said flame of the fireball came down “mid air explosion ” it would be stupidity to believe lighting struck, but it caught in easy term The Air Pocket, which made the plane STALL jammed and with in no time it lost the altitude, Pilot tried to increase thrust power ” because engine which I saw on the TV looked like had been through a hard time before being crashed. (Plane gets out of control only when it STALLS) due to very slow flaps 20, Rest the wind from the north played it’s part to bring it down, in seconds perhaps it would have been able to recover MAYBE if the thrust were fine but before this it is ATC Officials who authorized this plane to land.

Many People have this thing on their mind that Aircraft was Old, well tell you the truth It doesn’t matter, what matters is the maintenance which CAA checks approves it before it gets back for the service. There is no Emergency Setup forget the word Proper but no at all at The Benazir Bhutto International Airport (Islamabad), Air Traffic Control officials should be held questionable as well as Civil Aviation Authorities for showing ignorance and irresponsibility.

One of the worst thing which I saw, a day after Shaheen Air’s 2 Aircrafts were almost repeating the same, one at the time of landing and other one at the time of fuel filling, The President ordered to inspect all the private Airline’s Fleet. They been grounded for 4 days, eventually what happened, did they came up on Media and told people which one was defective? Why would they when The Corruption is working well in the Air too. Such a shame for Government for careless and keep repeating mistakes.

The History Of Bhoja Air.

Bhoja Air

On 7th November 1993, Bhoja Air started operations on domestic routes between Karachi, Lahoreand Quetta with a dry leased Boeing 737-200. It was registered in Pakistan making Bhoja the first private airline in the country to operate a Western manufactured aircraft. Bhoja Air is a privately owned airline of the Bhoja Group of Companies with its head office at Shahrah–e-Liaquat, Karachi and corporate offices at KDA Scheme No 1. In 1996, it signed a deal with the handling agent group OGDENS with complete ground handling equipment at Karachi, capable of handling Boeing 747s. In the same year another sister company, Pakistan Aviators and Aviation located at Allama Iqbal International Airport, Lahore was purchased[by whom?], along with a hotel for passenger stop-overs.

On24 January 1998Bhoja Air commenced international flights fromKarachitoDubai. Later, Bhoja Air operated flights to the U.A.E from all major cities ofPakistan. However due to financial difficulties, Bhoja Air suspended its operations in 2000, although its airline licence issued by CAA – Pakistan remained valid and it maintained a fully functional headquarters office in Karachi and a flight ops and ramp office at Karachi Jinnah International.

M. Farouk Omar Bhoja is the non-executive Chairman of the airline and has a 5% shareholding in the entity; Zeeshan M. Karimi and Mazahir Hassan hold 7.5% each; and the remaining controlling interest is held by Arshad Jalil and his family.

Head Office Address

Bhoja Air

(RPT)

Bhoja Terrace

Shahrah-e- Liaquat

KarachiPakistan.

TEL : 92 21 2620750

FAX : 92 21 2625995

Cell : 92 300 8214565

chairman@bhojaair.com

Founded 1993

Commenced operations7 November 1993

Ceased operations 2000 (Pre relaunch)

6 March 2012(Relaunch)

Operating basesJinnahInternationalAirport

Criteria by CAA which any Private airline maintain strictly, or else disqualified.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION

ACQUISITION OF AIRCRAFT

The operator shall have minimum three aircraft registered inPakistanto avoid inconvenience to the traveling public.

For operations withPakistanregistered aircraft, Airworthiness Directorate will issue the Certificate of Registration and Certificate of Airworthiness. ( DG CAA did not told Certificate of Airworthiness was issued again or not )

For maintenance and certification of aircraft, Director Airworthiness may be consulted for guidance on applicable requirements and procedures.

Wet lease aircraft induction from foreign countries would be allowed only in an extra-ordinary circumstances i.e. unforeseen surge in the market demand or sudden shortage of the operator’s capacity due accident / incident of aircraft. Wet lease permission of foreign registered aircraft shall not be more than 90 days unless satisfied the Director General CAA.

For foreign registered aircraft, a transfer agreement between the State of Registry and State of Operator is required to be concluded (before the commercial agreement between the lessor and lessee operator) under Article 83 (bis) of the Chicago Convention read with Civil Aviation Rule 368-A. The “Author and OPI” for the transfer agreement will be the Chief Legal Services, CAA.

Well I searched and I found The Chicago Convention on Civil Aviation – But Guess what There is no Rule 368-A in Article (bis)

http://www.mcgill.ca/files/iasl/chicago1944a.pdf

Renewal of the License by CAA

RENEWAL OF RPT (AIRLINE) LICENCE

The License holder (Licensee) shall apply to the Director Air Transport, HQ CAA,Karachion the Company Letterhead application Form where applicable for renewal with appropriate Licence renewal fee as per AT FEE SCHEDULE at least 45 days before expiry of the license. In case of failure, the holder, in addition to the normal fee shall pay surcharge Rs 20,000/- per month or part thereof. In case of receipt of application for renewal after expiry of the license, no waiver or extension to the license shall be granted until approval of the Competent Authority i.e. Federal Government is being sought or waiver/extension granted by the DG CAA in the National and General Public interest.

On receipt of the application, Air Transport Directorate shall seek comments / no objection of the CAA specialist directorates i.e. Finance, Flight Standards and Airworthiness and if applicable / required of Legal directorate.

If there are any CAA outstanding (aeronautical / non – aeronautical) dues against the licencee/operator or any other objections, the licencee should clear the same before renewal of the license unless agreed by the Director General CAA or the Federal Government.

On receipt of the no objection of the concerned directorates, approval of the Director General shall be sought and the matter shall be referred to the Federal Government for approval.

On receipt of the approval of the Federal Government, the license shall be renewed by the Air Transport Directorate.

The question is now is it only Bhoja’s mistake or CAA too? Why ATC ignored the Weather Warning and We haven’t heard that any initiative taken against ATC Officials. If we really want to fix these issues, these questions needs to be answered without it no Aircraft no matter Bhoja or PIA is not safe in Pakistani Territory. There should be Independent Teams to Investigate the crash of Flight 213. There should be International Aviation Team of Inspection called to certify these aircrafts including PIA. People of this nation don’t trust Government and the way DG CAA gave the press statement showed me how responsible person he is. We must demand what is fair, we are not asking to bring US Marines but Independent International Team of Aviation Experts to Inspect so we know are we going to reach the other side safely or…….

Passengers List in In Investigation Reports

Farhan Imaan F.Abro

INCPak.