PIA Grounds Pilots for Landing Aircraft on Wrong Runway at Lahore Airport

[Abbas Ali]

Source: flightradar24.com

PIA has grounded cockpit crew of airline's Dammam to Multan Airbus A320 (aircraft registration AP-BON) for landing aircraft on wrong runway at Lahore Airport on January 17, 2025.

The Multan-bound flight was diverted to Lahore due to low visibility/fog in Multan. The aircraft landed at 7:34 AM on Lahore Airport Runway 36L instead of airport's active Runway 36R. Runway 36L lights were also switched off at the time of incident, according to news reports.


Source: flightradar24.com


Source: flightradar24.com


Source: flightradar24.com

For comparison, landing made by Qatar Airways Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner (aircraft registration A7-BHJ) flight QR628 from Doha on Lahore Airport Runway 36R at 7:26 AM on January 17.


Source: flightradar24.com


Source: flightradar24.com

Later, PIA Airbus A320 (aircraft registration AP-BON) left Lahore at 2:34 PM to complete flight PK150 to Multan where it landed at 3:14 PM. The aircraft stayed at Lahore Airport for 7 hours 40 minutes.


Source: flightradar24.com

Incident investigation initiated by the airline and relevant aviation bodies.

Lahore Airport runways:

Main Runway 18L/36R
Secondary Runway 18R/36L



Abbas

[adamalikhan]

Great PR for PIA continues.

[Usman123]

Thats some serious incompetence!

Internationally you would get banned for life time for this, i doubt PIA will terminate this cockpit crew. Proper investigation must be conducted.

[Abbas Ali]

Information on The Aviation Herald.

https://avherald.com/h?article=522fb228

Abbas

[TomcatTask]

Yikes! This seems to have been an extremely serious incident. Could very well have been a fatal crash had that runway been in use by other crafts or had objects on it.

[raihans]

wow, how if a general aviation or VIP aircraft was on 18R taxing for departure 36R/L or even a ground vehicle on the runway 36L; seems we have not learnt well from the recent past crash PK8303

btw, what the TWR was doing when the traffic was approaching finals / short finals and why there was no call for traffic to cancel landing and go around?

[Karachi Aviator]

This is a good enough reason for EASA to reinstate it's ban on Pakistan. A very serious incident this.

[Airborne]

As much as this is a serious violation, but hold your breath. It happens in the west including USA too. Runway excursions and entering wrong runways does get you grounded but it is followed by some more training, nobody gets banned for life.

Thats some serious incompetence!

Internationally you would get banned for life time for this, i doubt PIA will terminate this cockpit crew. Proper investigation must be conducted.

[Usman123]

Pilots risked the lives of all passengers by this mistake and even when the lights of the runway were off. The incident needs to be investigated so that this kind of error can't happen again, but suspension is definitely in question as these pilot errors could have costed a lot to PIA.
In the past, unprofessional behavior inside cockpit, getting distracted or not following protocols were all the reasons for pk8303, and also loss of several ATR aircrafts due to hard landing. Similar could have been repeated here and could have been a falat crash. Reoccurring mistake signal towards a pattern of incompetence and unprofessionalism.

Here's an article on the subject:

https://simpleflying.com/wrong-runway-a ... ing-guide/

[Airborne]

“Pilots risked the lives of passengers”, dude you sound as if these pilots didn’t worry about their lives and probably didn’t have families to go back to. I am guessing you are not a pilot and just an aviation enthusiast and critic.

Well brother, it says in the very article you shared “such incidents highlight how even well-trained pilots and sophisticated navigation systems are not immune to error.” It also goes on and states “ Wrong runway or airport landings often result from environmental, technical, and human factors. Fatigue, weather conditions, miscommunication, and navigation system issues are among the primary contributors.“

Pilots are humans Usman and to err is human. But I definitely agree with you we do have lot more unprofessionalism in PIA from top to bottom and that is why we have more incidents and accidents. Only way to minimize such errors is to prepare first and identify threats in order to prevent from happening to begin with, but if you end up making errors then they need to step up and repair before it goes into undesirable state where recovery becomes the only way out. This is what they emphasize on in the west in their CRM/TEM model which I am pretty sure is supposed to be practiced in Pakistan too. But like you said, unprofessionalism makes it even more prone for them to make dangerous mistakes.

Pilots risked the lives of all passengers by this mistake and even when the lights of the runway were off. The incident needs to be investigated so that this kind of error can't happen again, but suspension is definitely in question as these pilot errors could have costed a lot to PIA.
In the past, unprofessional behavior inside cockpit, getting distracted or not following protocols were all the reasons for pk8303, and also loss of several ATR aircrafts due to hard landing. Similar could have been repeated here and could have been a falat crash. Reoccurring mistake signal towards a pattern of incompetence and unprofessionalism.

Here's an article on the subject:

https://simpleflying.com/wrong-runway-a ... ing-guide/

[AviationLover2020]

Pilots are humans Usman and to err is human.

Tell that to the victims of PK8303.

[Airborne]

What those guys did was not just to err….it was criminal. Starting from fasting that day to so on so forth. Like I said, level of unprofessionalism from top to bottom in PIA makes it even harder to mitigate errors. People will continue to make mistakes, as humans we do. There is not perfect flight for any pilot any day anywhere. But wrong attitude in PIA is never forgiving and yes unfortunately it costs lives. Think you guys are missing the point what I am trying to say.

Pilots are humans Usman and to err is human.

Tell that to the victims of PK8303.

[Airborne]

What those guys did was not just to err….it was criminal. Starting from fasting that day to so on so forth. Like I said, level of unprofessionalism from top to bottom in PIA makes it even harder to mitigate errors. People will continue to make mistakes, as humans we do. There is not perfect flight for any pilot any day anywhere. But wrong attitude in PIA is never going to be forgiving and yes unfortunately it costs lives. Think you guys are missing the point what I am trying to say.

Pilots are humans Usman and to err is human.

Tell that to the victims of PK8303.

[nopy99]

Is there ATC recording available?

Wonder if VAS aviation will cover this event.

[F1]

Though i am not surprised by PIA cockpit crew act since as to how they are inducted and its not hidden from anyone. Nonetheless landing on a cleared primary 36R Cat3 R/W for Instrument Approach is a straight in approach followed by ATC instructions/clearance along with Cockpit crew readback. I am unable to understand how can they miss it and commit such a big mistake which is a routine affair especially in IMC condition when Pilots stress level and attention is at its peak ! .