Airblue Flight 202 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Karachi to Islamabad. On 28 July 2010, the Airbus A321 jet airliner serving the flight crashed into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, while approaching Benazir Bhutto International Airport. All 146 passengers and 6 crew members on board were killed. The crash is the deadliest air accident to occur in Pakistan to date and the first fatal crash involving an Airbus A321.
Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority concluded that the crash of the two-hour flight was caused by the captain's incorrect flight-control input. Captain Pervez-Iqbal Chaudhry had spent the first hour of the flight belittling first officer Muntajib-ud-Din Ahmed who was subsequently reluctant to challenge the captain's multiple piloting mistakes and effectively ceased any meaningful crew resource management. Chaudhry also ignored multiple automated systems warning of the impending crash.
Accident
The flight left Karachi at 07:41 local time (02:41 UTC). Flight controllers at Benazir Bhutto International Airport lost contact with the aircraft at 09:41 local time (04:41 UTC). Weather conditions at the time were marginal, and the crew of a China Southern airliner had diverted to an alternate airport and a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight had taken three go-arounds 30 minutes earlier.
The aircraft approached Islamabad from the southeast, following a procedure that required it to fly toward the airport until making visual contact. It was then to fly around the airport to the east and north, keeping within 5 nmi (9.3 km; 5.8 mi), until lining up with runway 12, which faces toward the southeast. The aircraft crashed into mountains outside the 5 nmi (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) radius, about 8 nmi (15 km; 9.2 mi) north of the airport, facing almost due west, before it could line up for the runway 12 final approach.
The pilots did not send any emergency signals prior to the crash. Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik stated that the aircraft was at 2,600 feet (790 m) as it approached Islamabad, but went back up to 3,000 feet (910 m) before eventually crashing. The altitude of 2,600 feet (790 m) was above the safe minimum descent altitude (2,510 feet (770 m) above sea level, or 852 feet (260 m) above ground level) had the aircraft remained within the 5 nmi (9.3 km; 5.8 mi) radius of the airport.
One witness on the ground, stated that the aircraft had "lost balance", and then it went down. Others described the aircraft as being lower than it should have been. One told The New York Times that the aircraft was "flying as low as a four-story building". Someone reported that as the aircraft started to turn, the right side of its front collided into the highest mountain, emitting an instant billow of blue fire and black smoke.
The aircraft wreckage was found near the Daman-e-Koh viewing point in the Margalla Hills outside Islamabad. The Los Angeles Times reported that "television footage of the crash site showed smoke and burning debris strewn in a swath cutting through the forest. Rescue helicopters hovered overhead. Fire was visible, and smoke was blowing up from the scene."
The weather conditions 19 minutes after the accident, as detailed by the 05:00 UTC METAR (aviation routine weather observation message) report for Benazir Bhutto International Airport, were: Wind from 090° at 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph). Visibility 3,500 m (2.2 mi; 1.9 nmi), rain, scattered clouds at 1,000 feet (300 m), few clouds at 3,000 feet (910 m) overcast at 10,000 feet (3,000 m). Temperature 25 °C (77 °F), dewpoint 24 °C (75 °F). QNH 1006.9 hPa.
Search and rescue
A local police official stated he had reports that the aircraft fell into the Margalla Hills area, as smoke was in the area, though they were not able to reach the site due to lack of access. An army helicopter arrived to survey the crash site at 10:30 local time (04:30 UTC), but was not able to land. Aerial inspection at the site did not find any surviving passengers or crew.
All 152 people on board were later confirmed dead. All hospitals in Islamabad were declared in a state of emergency.
Rescuers who were present at the scene reported that the bodies were mutilated and burnt and that the aircraft was totally destroyed by the impact, with its pieces and parts scattered over a large distance. Some parts were still burning, and the surrounding bushes also caught fire." Rescuers at the crash site reportedly were "digging through the rubble with their bare hands." A senior city government official stated that the rescue operation was "very difficult ... because of the rain. Most of the bodies are charred. We're sending body bags via helicopters."
The rescue operation was reported to be "chaotic". BBC Urdu reported the majority of those at the crash site were members of Pakistan's antiterrorism police, while only a few people were from search and rescue. Most were just "standing around, gazing at the burning debris" with nothing much to do. Reports were given of a threat from police officers to baton charge rescuers if they did not "move quickly". Their search-and-rescue operation was also hampered by the lack of coordination between rescuers and other government institutions, such as the military, the police, and the Capital Development Authority.
Aircraft
The aircraft that crashed was an Airbus A321-231, registered AP-BJB, The aircraft was built in 2000, and had a manufacturer serial number of 1218.
This was the first fatal crash for the A321, and the second hull loss of the type. The aircraft had originally been delivered to Aero Lloyd and used by Aero Flight before being taken over by Airblue in 2006. It had accumulated over 34,000 flight hours in some 13,500 flights. The aircraft was previously struck by lightning on 30 December 2008.
Passengers and crew
Flight 202 was carrying 146 passengers and 6 crew members. Of the passengers, 110 were men, 29 were women, 5 were children, and 2 were infants. Among the passengers were an active-duty captain of the Pakistan Army, six members of the Youth Parliament of Pakistan, and three off-duty flight attendants. The majority of the passengers were Pakistani. There were at least four foreign nationals. According to reports, one Somali diplomat, one Austrian, and two Americans were on board Flight 202.
The captain of Flight 202, 61-year-old Pervez-Iqbal Chaudhry, had 25,497 hours of flying experience, with 1,060 hours on the A320 aircraft. 34-year-old First Officer Muntajib-ud-Din Ahmed, a former F-16 Pakistan Air Force fighter pilot and squadron leader, had 1,837 hours of flying experience and 286 hours on the A320 aircraft.
Reaction
A statement on Airblue's website stated, "Airblue, with great sadness, announces the loss of flight ED 202 inbound from Karachi to Islamabad. The flight crashed during poor weather and thick fog. We regret the loss of life and are investigating the exact circumstances of this tragedy. This will be presented as soon as possible." The statement continued, "our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew." The compensation estimation process for the victims by Airblue's insurer began on 30 July 2010, with initial estimates of Rs 1,000,000 (Rs 10 lakh, US$11,169) per victim.
Both the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani sent condolences to the families of those who died in the accident. The Pakistani government declared 29 July 2010 would be a national day of mourning and announced compensation of Rs 500,000 (Rs 5 lakh, $5,847) to the family of every victim. U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement confirming that two Americans had been on the flight and expressing condolences, and stated, "our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those touched by this horrible accident". The Airblue management decided that a monument would be built with the names of the victims inscribed onto it to honor the dead.
Investigation
The Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) immediately launched an investigation into the accident. Airbus stated that the company would provide full technical assistance to Pakistani authorities. A six-member Airbus team, headed by Nicolas Bardou, the company's director of flight safety, arrived in Islamabad on 29 July 2010.
The aircraft's flight recorders were located on 31 July, when Junaid Ameen, the director-general of the Pakistan CAA, told AFP, "the investigating committee found the black box from the Margalla Hills this morning ... the black box was found from the bulk of the wreckage of the crashed plane." He stated that the box would be examined by "foreign experts" in Germany or France, as Pakistan does not possess the equipment to decode the flight recorders. He also stated that the process of extracting information may take six months to a year.
The Pakistani authorities decided to send the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) to the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) in France.
Conduct of approach
Flight 202 arrived in Islamabad from the southeast direction and the crew intended to land visually at runway 12. As Pakistan was drenched with rain at the time, the visibility had deteriorated to 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi; 1.9 nmi). With low visibility, the crew had to use instrument landing for runway 30, the same runway but in the opposite direction, before they could land visually at runway 12. This required the pilots to circle around the runway until they were aligned. Specifically, the crew had to line up with runway 30, turn 45° to the right and maintain it for 30 seconds, turn left and fly parallel with the runway, wait for around 20 seconds after reaching abeam for the threshold of runway 12, turn 90° to the left, and later turn again to the left to align with runway 12. Each segment of the approach had been timed and the pilots needed to establish visual contact with the runway first before they could land. The entire circling approach must be conducted with a minimum altitude of 2,500 feet (760 m).
Surrounding the airport was an 8-kilometre-wide (5.0 mi; 4.3 nmi) protection zone, which was intended to be a safe zone for pilots to manoeuvre their aircraft so that they would never fly into the hills located behind the airport. All said procedures for a landing were required to be conducted within the protection zone. The crew, though, managed to fly well outside it and even flew towards Margala Hills, which was quite far from the zone boundary.
The recording of the FDR and CVR revealed that the pilot in command of the aircraft at the time, Captain Chaudhry, had significantly deviated from the established procedures for an approach to Islamabad. During the approach, he tried an unconventional approach by requesting a right-hand downwind approach, selected NAV mode, flew significantly close with the hills, and violated the airport's minimum descent altitude. At one point, he could be heard laughing off the order from the air traffic control (ATC) to enter a holding pattern and wait for the weather to improve, saying, "Let him say what he wants to say." He was also heard dismissing his first officer's concern on establishing visual with the airport, as he believed that no visual contact was needed as long as they had engaged the autopilot.
According to the recording, the captain initially did not feel anxious about his decision to deviate from the standard procedures for an approach to Islamabad. He even stated his intention to initiate the turn for a lineup with runway 12 at a distance where the aircraft was dangerously close with the hills. As a result, the ground proximity warning system (GPWS) sounded several times to warn the crew on their impending collision with terrain. In the last few seconds, Captain Chaudhry panicked and eventually caused the aircraft to fly directly towards the hills, rather than avoiding them.
Captain's arrogance
While numerous deviations from the standard operating procedures happened, the co-pilot of Flight 202, First Officer Ahmed, was largely unresponsive and passive about them, even when the aircraft was put in a dangerously close position to terrain. The recording showed that he had voiced his concerns several times, but the captain failed to correct their flight path.