The Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday issued a statement that its interim report regarding the worst air crash in the history of the country in which 152 persons died, could not be made public, as the meeting summoned by Prime Minister Gilani on Wednesday was not held due to unknown reasons.
The report was handed over to the government by the defence ministry after compilation by five-member investigation team led by Air Commodore Khawaja Abdul Majeed, Chairman Safety Investigation of CAA, sources in the CAA told Business Recorder here.
Besides five-member probe team, experts and agencies of Germany, France and America also took part in the investigation and helped compile the interim report, sources said, adding that Prime Minister's Secretariat is appropriate forum to make the report public.
The CAA experts who took part in the air crash probe declared it a human error, stating that the plane crashed due to pilot negligence and not any technical failure or disruptive activity, sources said.
The investigators during the probe took into consideration various aspects including internal and external sabotage, incapacitation of the aircraft systems, flight fire, bird strike or structural fatigue, human factor, organisational factors and other causes, sources said.
Sources said after compilation of the interim report it was sent to the Prime Minister through Defence Ministry, as CAA can not directly report to the Prime Minister or any other government functionary.
The interim report stated that the Air Blue flight ED-202, (Air Bus 321) flew over Margalla Hills and crashed at a distance of 17.77 km from Islamabad Airport. The aircraft took off at 7.41 am from Jinnah International Airport Karachi for Islamabad. But it crashed on Margalla Hills of the Capital on a rainy day July 28 last year, the sources said. They said the report revealed that the Airbus reached Islamabad International airport before the scheduled time of 9.30am and the pilot approached the control tower of Islamabad Airport, seeking direction for using other side of the runway for landing. In response to the instructions from control tower, pilot moved the aircraft towards Margalla Hills that led to the disaster.
The CAA sources said the interim report has also been dispatched to the Airbus Company and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.