The Mysterious Air Crash

By Rana Usman

And it was all over the news this morning, I’ve been receiving different texts from my friends about the plane crash but I didnt know the case is very different. I woke up and turned on a news channel and I was astounded to know that a massive passenger plane has collided Margalla hills surrounded by Islamabad. I had no idea at that time about the massive holocaust of humanity in the name of Plane crash. By the after-noon it was evidently declared that nobody survived the plane crash, Thus killing all 152 people on board.

I’ve been deeply analysing the plane crash as it was for the first time that a big jet with so many passengers on board has crashed into the area where planes are not allowed to go. Beside this, so many questions are still unanswered. I’ve been thinking why the plane was directed to move towards the Blue Area side of Islamabad, as that area is usually regarded as VIP area where no plane can fly. Plus it has all important buildings of Pakistan like Supreme Court, Parliament House, Prime Minister House and the President House. This is still an unsolved mystery for me that why the plane was sent to ‘No Go Area’. Please dont forget that Naval Headquarters and PAF complex is also located in that Area.

That was one aspect of my vision and analysis about the plane crash, however on the other side of coin, Air Pocket could be the other reason. May be a lot of us are unfamiliar with this term ‘Air Pocket’ which is also known as Air Turbulence. Air Turbulence is a phenomena in which an aeroplane can descend as low as 10,000 feet in the time period of few seconds. Air Turbulence is basically a stream of air in irregular motion that normally cannot be seen and often occurs unexpectedly. It can be created by a number of different conditions. The most common encounter is flying in the vicinity of thunderstorm. In fact, a flight through a patch of cloud will often jostle the airplane. Flying over mountainous area with a prevailing wind is another major cause of air turbulence. Other causes come from flying near to jet streams at high altitude, in a frontal system or where temperature changes in any air mass in the sky.

Two third of turbulence-related accidents occurs at or above 30,000 feet. Generally, flying through turbulence of the milder nature, if prolonged, can be fairly uncomfortable to the passengers. If such turbulence were detectable by the weather radar or from weather forecast, pilots would avoid them by deviating off track. There were number of air planes which experiences air crash because of Air Turbulence but they were rare in nature.

According to aviation consultancy Ascend. Examples include the crash of an Austral airlines McDonnell Douglas in Uruguay with the loss of 69 passengers and five crew in 1997. A Fokker aeroplane crashed shortly after taking off from Rotterdam airport in 1981, killing 13 passengers and four crew. One of the earliest cases involved a BOAC (later British Airways) Boeing 707 near Mount Fuji in Japan. The BOAC flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong flew into extreme turbulence and crashed in March 1966, killing 113 passengers and 11 crew. An investigation reported that the likely cause of the disaster was that “the aircraft suddenly encountered abnormally severe turbulence which imposed a gust load considerably in excess of the design limit.”

The mystery still remains unsolved and the questions are still there to answer but initial investigations has to under-go in order to fetch out the conclusion. I’ve extreme sympathy with the families of passengers who were on board. There’s nothing that can compensate human loss but yet when there is loss, it should be investigated so that no-one else in future face something like that.


  • Of course there will be an investigation – the black box has been found and I would suggest that it is premature and unnecessary for anyone to speculate on the cause of the crash. As always there are people out there who want to stir up anxiety and fear and to offer reasons for the accident (as that is how it is currently being defined) which at this time is wholly inappropriate.

    Defining this posting as ‘Mysterious Air Crash’ implies that there is missing information or an unexpected conclusion with regards to this tragedy and as both ‘information’ and ‘conclusion’ just over 24hours after the incident are still uncertain, therefore I would suggest it is unfair and inappropriate to speculate as to the possible causes to the accident. Howver, if you are speaking as an air accident investigator, then your input might hold some credibility – but as such you should know better than to speculate on the reasons for crashes ! Sorry this post is totally pointless and inappropriate !!!

    • bang ! …. but i guess he wanted people to know of the crash … though u are rite …

      • yeah and the first thought that crossed my mind after reading the post title was as if there was someone’s hand behind the plane crash

  • Asalam U Alaikum

    Plane Crash Main Jin Logo Ki Death Hoi Hy Un K Liay Dua Hy K
    ALLAH PAK
    Unko
    Jannat-Ul-Fardoos
    Main Jaga Dain Or Un K Ghar Walaon Ko Sabar Ata Farmaye
    Ameen

    From
    Jawad Zubair Shaikh (J.S)

  • First of all, my heartfelt condolences to families of victims of the crash.
    Inna lilla hey wa inna ilaihey rajaoon.
    May their souls rest in peace. Amen!

    I saw the plane flying low over F-7/4 when I was leaving for work. I was surprised that why is the plane flying so low and that too towards margallas.

    I think it happened either because of pilot error or mechanical failure.
    The pilot deviated too far from islamabad airport. He should not have been flying over Margallas.
    The second cause could be the pressure plate which gives the lift to the aircraft.
    The pilot did try to lift the aircraft at the last minute as i noted that the crash site was near the top of the hills to the right of F-7/4 but because the pressure plate did not give him sufficient lift, he failed to clear the hills.

    This is very tragic and lets hope that the culprits at Air Blue or CAA get punished. Air Blue should be GROUNDED till safety of aircraft and pilots can be guaranteed by CAA.

    • There is NO reason to even suggest grounding of AirBlue, as this has been a airline much better than PIA. Infact PIA should be grounded for good of this poor nation.

    • There is no such thing as a pressure plate that provides lift to the aircraft. You need engine power to climb coupled with back pressure on the elevator.

  • You can analyze the hell out of the incident like everyone has been doing on the news since yesterday but how about a little background about How your qualified or have experience with analyzing Aircraft crashes ?

  • Very good column, giving so many aspects but overlooked that above all there is an Allah’s will.

  • I have no words to express my feeling towards the families who lost. I almost cry . . .

    But I have another view to say:
    I had been traveled on PIA, Shaheen Air, Emirates and Airblue domestic and International destinations and I regret to say the worst Airline is AirBlue ignorant and rude staff always delayed flights so I stop using Airblue since over one year.

  • Very well written article and quiet informative i must say. It has covered an important aspect of plane crash. Thumbs up

  • Although its a national tragedy & huge loss, lets not speculate and make assumption regarding the causes of this incident as its highly technical matter wherein number of factors like human, technical, environmental etc factors matter. It take two to three year to narrow down the exact cause of air crash investigation.

    I would suggest that alteast those who are educated must not do gossips in this connection.

  • I am agree the matter should be investigated and responsible should be brought to book.

  • I haven’t heard much about the plan crash, but after reading your article i come to know that there is some fact behind this incident, you pointed some major points.

  • HI
    Salam to all dear ones, one thing i need to mention here that i hope that no solid investigations will be made in near future for this crucial accidental event, I appreciate your efforts that you pin point some issues in your article but i think govt will remain silent INSHALLAH, bcz they dont have hearts to feel the pain of our country’s bad condition, I hope all PPP will enojoy Hot nights in their palaces and the issue of investigation of this particular case will be in any old cabinet or in old file,

    Pakistani are not sincere with anyone so these types of events will remain open, and cause us but we wont felt any one of them, one day like that case i will die and another day more people will die but be remmember that there will be no investigations for me and you all so dont raise these issues bcs our great nation is sleeping silently, and plz dont u need to awake them, just watch the game of Pakistan in shape of bad accidents bomb blasts robberies target killing etc etc etc etc etc

    ALLAH may give us hidaya then there will a chance to survive, otherwise death tolls will rise more in near future.

    Many of you may read my text like an emotional touch text, bt my dear its nt a emotional story its reality that we are facing from previous 10 years.
    May anyone of you will think about it

    Ya Allah paak plz plz plz Save my Pakistan, my nation is sleeping, plz save us otherwise bad powers will destroy our peace and harmony of our country

  • I would like everyone to watch the following youtube videos this will give you clear understanding how Air Traffic Control works:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9roMBwOX8s&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rqKVSdiw8M&feature=related

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct3j5JA05rE

    after watching the above videos I must say Islamabad Air Traffic Control knows what really happened and they are just telling bull shit

    we all knows about our system nothing revealed ever to public so with this crash – I bet if that black box could ever be found!

  • I just recieved this text msg

    “Pakistani government is hiding the reality of recently plane crash. Actually it was hijacked by 2 commandoes of black water and their target was to destroy the research laboratories of kahuta because government didnt gave visas to the american marines but salute to the pilot tht he saved the future of pakistan and gave his life. The whole story is on internet and you can search it plz forward it so tht the people may knw the reality and sacrifice of the p(…)”

    • yes dear it is looking that something is there which our govt is hiding, they stopped that Shadid masoad show, bcz he wanna tell us something but govt stop him also, so wait and watch, what will happen to this case…!

  • It seems everyone is concerned about the “NO GO AREA” . I have been receiving text messages about it as well.

    Many people dont understand that the airplane was instructed to perform a go around because of wind direction ang go around has to be performed within 5 nautical miles whereas the airblue plane flew upt0 8 nautical miles before hitting the margalla hills.

    The question is why pilot flew so far away from the airport when ATC even warned twice that the plane was drifting away from the airport.!!!

    It seems we as Pakistani’s are more happy to blame our own people whether its the Air Traffic Control or some one else


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