Bhoja Air Crash Report Released

[Abbas Ali]

According to news report on following link, Bhoja Air crash report submission to Ministry of Defence is expected next month and the report may be released on the first anniversary of tragic air crash.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/518083/setb ... -national/

Hope the report is made public on Pakistan CAA website.

On April 20, 2012, Bhoja Air Boeing 737-236 Advanced (registration AP-BKC) operating flight B4-213 from Karachi crashed during landing approach to Islamabad Airport. All 127 people aboard the aircraft, including 6 crew members, died in this accident. Weather was bad with rain and lightning at the time of accident.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

According to Capital TV, Bhoja Air crash investigation report has been completed.

Investigation report excerpts:

* Pilots were unable to handle the aircraft in weather condition that they encountered.
* There was no technical problem in the aircraft.
* Air Traffic Control not responsible for the accident.

Ministry of Defence will be given a briefing on investigation report findings.

The investigation report will be released on Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) website after its approval by prime minister/government.

Abbas

[bravo45]

Thanks for that, looking forward to the report... May all the departed souls rest in peace... Aameen!!!

[Abbas Ali]

Extracts from Bhoja Air crash report in following news report:

Bhoja Airways crash: CAA report points to pilots, airline’s negligence

By Saad Hasan

Published: January 23, 2014

KARACHI: It was the first evening flight in eleven years since Bhoja Airways suspended operations in 1999. The airline resumed service twelve years later and this flight from Karachi to Islamabad was scheduled for Friday, April 20, 2012. A 78-page report released by the CAA includes a blow-by-blow account of BHO 213’s final minutes before it crashed on that Friday, ruling out any technical failure in the aircraft.

There was a thunderstorm warning for Islamabad but the flight’s captain, Noorullah Khan was not perturbed – with more than 10,000 hours of flying experience under his belt, this was just another routine flight for the former air force pilot, aged 58. Flight number BHO 213 departed from Karachi at 5.05pm, with 127 people on board, including six crew members. Khan was assisted by 53-year-old first officer (FO) Javaid Ahmed Malik, also a former PAF pilot. The two pilots had worked together previously and of the 23 flights the captain piloted at Bhoja, Malik had co-piloted 16.

Bhoja Airways, under the leadership of former Managing Director of Shaheen Air International Arshad Jalil, had inducted four Boeing 737s to its fleet. This plane, a 737-236a was manufactured in 1985 and used by British Airways till 1999. The plane served South Africa’s Comair until 2010 when it was grounded. The 737 was purchased by Bhoja in January 2012 and on January 12, Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority’s inspectors Shaukat Hameed and Javed Afzal carried out a detailed inspection of the aircraft in Johannesburg. The inspectors noted 28 discrepancies, ranging from peeled-off paint to an engine fan blade’s waviness. All defects were removed in following weeks.

The CAA’s report notes there was no cockpit and crew monitoring system within the airline. The CAA’s Flight Standard Directorate is exempted from any responsibility, as the CAA says it was never told by Bhoja that the pilots would be flying an advanced version of the B-737-200 – the aircraft, possessing an advanced automated flight deck system, requires different treatment when encountering adverse weather conditions. Captain Khan was not trained to handle the situation and his FO had not received simulator training for the aircraft’s automated deck.

At 6.09pm, the report notes, the plane flew above Lahore. At 6:18, the FO asked Khan if he should request a weather forecast for Peshawar – every flight has two alternate cities marked in case of diversion and in this case, it was Lahore and Peshawar. The captain said there was no need. A thunderstorm loomed over Islamabad, with wind speeds at 20 and 34 knots. At 6.24, the captain commented to his FO about the bad weather and at 6:31, the FO asked the captain to take a right to avoid the inclement weather. “No, no we don’t have to go there, we have to land here,” replied Captain Khan, determined to make it to Islamabad.

The flight was cleared for descent at 6.33. Four minutes later, the captain commented on the dark weather but by 6.38, the aircraft prepared to land. Flight BHO-123 then entered the last two minutes of its life. At 6.38, the FO informed the captain that the speed was 220 knots – when at this point, it should not exceed 190 knots. By 6.39, the plane was pushed into a downdraft – a rapid downward push of air. Within four seconds the plane fell from 1900 feet to 900 feet. According to a senior pilot, ‘everything must have been flying inside’ the cabin at this point. By 6.39.28, the captain can be heard shouting, “No, no!”, while the FO says, “Go around, go around.” The Terrain Awareness Warning System sounded an alarm and the FO contacted the control tower. At 6:39:54, the FO shouted, “Stall warning, let’s get out.” Three seconds later, he says his last words, “Go around, go around, sir, go around.” The aircraft crashed 4.5 nautical miles from the Islamabad airport near Hussainabad village. There were no survivors.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 23rd, 2014.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/662314/bhoj ... egligence/

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Asad Bin Hassan

Monday, February 24, 2014

KARACHI: The CAA’s Safety Investigation Board has held the Bhoja Air administration, captain and first officer of the plane responsible for its crash on April 20, 2012, claiming 127 lives.

The board reported that the Met Office had warned of intense rain and windstorm in and around Islamabad from 2pm to 8pm on that day but the Bhoja Air flight still departed for Islamabad at 5pm.

It stated that the pilot and the first officer were experienced in flying semi-automated aircraft but the plane was fully automated. It said the Bhoja Air administration made a blunder allowing incompetent people to fly the plane.

It said the pilot should have diverted the flight to another airport after he was told of the harsh weather situation. It said the Bhoja Air administration has not provided the CAA with proper information about the pilot and the first officer. It said the aircraft issued automatic warning of the harsh weather but the pilot and the first officer continued in routine talk, avoiding any discussion on the weather threats. It said the Bhoja Air administration hid information from the investigators, and heirs of the captain had taken his body away with them without autopsy.

Source: The News

[Abbas Ali]

Bhoja Crash Blamed on Poorly Trained Crew

FEB 06 2014



Sajjad Qayyum—AFP

Civil Aviation Authority's Report Claims Captain and His Co-Pilot Were Not Trained to fly the Plane that Crashed Outside Islamabad.

The pilots of a jetliner that plunged to the ground outside Islamabad in 2012 and killed 127 people were not trained to use its automated flight deck, investigators have found.

The Bhoja Air Boeing 737 from Karachi crashed in fields and burst into flames as it came in to land at the capital’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport during a storm in April 2012. There were no survivors.

In its official report Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) blamed the crew and Bhoja management for the crash, the second deadliest in the country’s history.

The captain and his co-pilot had been trained to fly the Boeing 737-200 but not the more advanced 737-236 model that crashed, the CAA report said. The newer model was equipped with an automated flight deck that the crew had not been trained to use, the report added.

“The information with regards to automation capacities of aircraft was not in the knowledge of cockpit crew even after the formal ground schooling, as the ground schooling did not cater for the automation of aircraft,” said the report. In their concluding remarks the investigators said that “ineffective management of the basic flight parameters” such as air speed and rate of descent were among the main causes of the tragedy.

The eight-member investigation team was headed by an air commodore and included engineers, commercial and air force pilots, doctors and aviators. Discussing the black-box recording of the cockpit conversation and air traffic control tower, the team observed that panic gripped the pilot in the severe weather conditions. The captain was heard suddenly remarking that it had become dark, but he did not take any action to discontinue the approach. He appeared not to trust the plane’s automatic technology and at one point seemed confused that the plane was traveling at 220 knots instead of 190.

The crash was Islamabad’s second in less than two years, after an Airblue plane hit the Margalla hills in July 2010 while coming in to land in bad weather, killing 152—Pakistan’s deadliest air accident. Parts of the Bhoja Air plane’s fuselage dragged across the ground for several kilometers in the crash and many of the bodies were charred beyond recognition. No one from the airline, which had its operations suspended by the CAA soon after the crash, was available for comment.

Source: Newsweek - Pakistan

[imran747]

have we lost enough lifes to justify ils cat iii now or gps approaches.

have caa asked operators to include specific limitations regarding such weather in their sops.

[TAILWIND]

have we lost enough lifes to justify ils cat iii now or gps approaches.

have caa asked operators to include specific limitations regarding such weather in their sops.

Given the known circumstances, CAT I, II or III, the results would have been similar.

[Abbas Ali]

According to PTV News, Pakistan CAA has released Bhoja Air crash report on its website.

The report can be downloaded from following link:

http://caapakistan.com.pk/Upload/SIBReports/SIB-350.pdf

According to accident report excerpts on PTV News:

* The aircraft did not have any technical problem.
* No signs of sabotage/terrorism.
* Co-pilot repeatedly pointed out bad weather but pilot did not change his decision to land the aircraft.
* Pilot did not properly follow/understand aircraft's automated system and changing weather.
* Aircraft control not shifted from autothrottle to manual throttle.
* Under extraordinary air pressure the aircraft quickly lost height and came to height of 900 feet from the height of 1900 feet.
* Cockpit crew till the end did not declare emergency.
* Pilot during landing approach did not take right decisions in bad weather.
* Pilot held responsible for the crash.

Abbas

[Abbas Ali]

Some more info on 'The Aviation Herald' on following link:

http://avherald.com/h?article=44e48c2a/0000&opt=0

Abbas

[TAILWIND]

Extremely sub standard and low quality report. No in depth analysis, just reproduction of CVR with comments based on conjectures. Report in the opeining few pages shows the inclination towards the so called 'automation issue'. Thouh I will write detailsed comments few glaring mistakes.
> Accidents Report never use the words , under confident, sheltering under the capt etc remarks. The deceased crew desrve respect.
> No annexes showing FDR data, CVR Transcript.
> Irrelevant discussions amongst the crew e.g singing qawaali or songs need not to be reproduced verbatim, just a give a reference.
> Why pilots birth place and district is mentioned, has it some bearing on the event.
> No explanation as to how the autopilot, auto throttle works. What inpuits are available on MCP, the effects and consequences of various modes and thier combinations.

[Squawk_1200]

Nothing new in this several pages Bojha Airline crash report by CAA.

In the last 36 months in the territory Pakistan several other aviation accidents and incidents , some fatal some non fatal have occurred .Just few incidents and accidents that happen at various Pakistan airports which public is aware off are , Airblue crash, Bojha crash, a charter company commuter plane fell of the sky and burned , ATRs and 737s airliners skidded off the runway and became unairworthy.A twin engine airplane ran out of fuel and crashed, in flight training activity students flipping the planes in crosswind conditions, student and instructor went in cross control stall , student and instructor drop the plane at Islamabad airport. jet pilot caption and copilot could not center the instrument needle and could not fly the stabilized approach could,t find the runway below.ect.

In Pakistan less than 90 passenger airliners and less than 70 general aviation airplane and only 14 operational airports are governed by CAA. CAA which is the regulatory body monitoring the movement of those aircraft , CAA undoubt task is to ensure safety in every area of operations, other than publishing some unprofessional and incomplete crash investigation reports by at the end declaring it a human error and then bury those reports some where in there office.

With a huge department and large number of employees , what so far in the last 30 months CAA has done to increase safety by increasing its monitoring and supervision. What have CAA done to detect, react, and prevent those errors which lead to those incidents and accidents.

I am not doing a comparison of CAA Pakistan with any other aviation authority , for example in 2009 Colgan crash FAA became immediately active by bringing many changes in there system ,every thing from changing hiring minimums to testing and certification, since 2009 in USA with 24000 airports and 5000 plus passengers airplane , accumulating 56% of the world air travel,there has been no fatal accident by major airlines.

Any thing our CAA can point out that there governing departing have done in the last 30 months ?

[bigfish]

Several causes of these stupid type of reports coming from CAA Pakistan:

1. Incompetency at the highest level
2. Not educated or trained enough in the "safety" areas and concepts properly. Talk to them and they will not have much knowledge or depth in their manner.
3. The man in-charge does not have experience on writing reports
4. Nobody told the incharge or authority to TRY to write or learn from institutions such as NTSB, AAIB, etc.
5. They don't care because, they just don't care.
6. Lack of safety awareness, their jobs are secure so they don't have to care.


When incidents like this happen, you can just see the circus. Media channels will take any so-called military pilot or some old retired dude and get an "expert analysis" from him. That person will spew out nothing useful (all speculation) on any channel willing to listen. Everyone wants their fame and minute on TV, rather than just saying sorry I am not qualified to comment.

To see what the developed world does and how they do it, one can watch any documentaty on Air Crash investigations (they're available on internet widely) and watch them. Look at the AF447 reports/documentaries, they published the whole thing and even make a dramatization of events so that the world can watch and learn.

But this is Pakistan, CAA lets old retired tired planes to be certified and puts the public in danger. None of the airlines are "safe", just look at PIA's ATR incident, Shaheen's issues, Airblue crash into Margalla, Bhoja crash. There seems to be no consequences to anything in Pakistan. The owners of all these private airlines are "untouchable" because they're (so-called) VIPs here.
In other countries they would not even be hired to be garbagemen.

Unfortunately there will not be justice served in these catastrophies. Maybe in few centuries someone will be able to write a better report..

[TAILWIND]

Further review of crash report:
The investigation team seems to be fixated on the crew's inability of handling an automated flight deck. They have not been able to analyse what difference would it make,had they been masters of the automation, yet entered in the weather and ultimately encountered windsheer at 400 ft AGL. Given the conditions, would they be able to extricate themselves had the disconnected the A/T and gone for TOGA.
The report doesn not dwell on the fact that the aircraft never met the criterion of a 'stabilised' approach, i.e speed, hieght, configuration.
The report has not gone into the depth of human behaviour where it is (theoratically) expected that a junior pilot will takeover the controls once he/she sees the senior crew member getting into a dangerous situation
The report is mere a narration of CVR with conjectural comments/inferences.

More to come

[yasir_nk]

Where is Air Blue ED202 crash investigation report?