An Islamabad-bound flight of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Wednesday narrowly escaped a clash, while taking off, with an international operator’s aircraft landing at Canada’s Toronto Pearson Airport.
According to media reports, the national airline’s flight PK-787 entered into a taxiway, a path along which aircraft can taxi when moving to or from the runway, without clearance from airport administration.
At the same time, an Air Canada flight arrived from Seoul to land at the same runway where the PIA plane was preparing for a takeoff. A timely intervention, however, by air traffic control avoided a clash between the two planes.
The PIA administration took stern action against the pilot responsible for the mishap and directed him to undertake the cockpit management course once again. He will remain grounded until the completion of the course.
Earlier in October, a Karachi-bound aircraft of PIA had narrowly escaped a disaster after being hit by a bird near the Jinnah International Airport.
A PIA spokesperson had told media that the aircraft en route from Sharjah to Karachi had suffered a bird strike but the pilot of the plane managed to land it safely at Karachi Airport.
