Air Blue rules out technical problem in plane crash

ISLAMABAD: Chief Executive of Air Blue Airline Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said that the bodies of 102 passengers, killed in the Wednesday’s plane crash in Margalla Hills, have been handed over to their heirs, while samples for DNA tests of 62 individuals have been sent to the laboratory. Talking to media-persons here on Friday he said that the airline would pay insurance money to heirs of the plane crash victims, for which registration has begun. He asked the relatives of victims to get themselves registered with the airline through internet or report to the nearest Air Blue office. Abbasi said that search for the black box of the plane was underway. "At the time of the crash, the plane was flying at a height of 1000 feet. The black box has not yet been found because the wreckage spread far and wide", he said. He said that six personnel of Air Blue were also members of the investigation team tasked to find the causes of the incident, adding "We want to make public the details of the investigative report." Brushing aside the rumours that the pilot of the airliner was suffering from fatigue, he said the pilot had rested for 36 hours before the flight. He said Pervaiz Iqbal Chaudhry, the pilot of the ill-fated plane was a seasoned pilot, who had 25000 hours experience to hi credit. The chief executive said that the pilot was 61- year- old, while the standard at the international level is 65 years. Abbasi said that Flying Officer Mujttahid Chughtai was 34-year- old and he had served in Pakistan Air Force as a F-16 jetfighter pilot. He had 1700 hours experience including the 300 hours in the crashed plane. He did not agree that there was any technical problem that resulted in airliner's crash and added there was also no report of any terrorist act. Even, the Interior Minister Rehman A. Malik hadalready ruled out the possibility of any act of terrorism, he said. To a question he said that rules and laws of the Civil Aviation Authority were very strict and it was evident from the six years' record of Air Blue that it strictly followed those rules and never committed a violation. He claimed that the Air Blue was the first airline in Pakistan, which started issuing boarding cards to passengers after checking their ID Cards.