Airline's Pilots Want Planes Grounded

Pakistan International Airline pilots want the company to immediately phase out the six Fokker F-27s remaining in the carrier's fleet... saying they pose an immediate danger to both passengers and crew. PIA says no dice... at least, not right now, as the investigation continues into Monday's crash of an F-27 just after taking off from Multan.

As Aero-News reported Tuesday, all 45 people on board were lost in the crash. Witnesses have told investigators that flames appeared to be coming from the aircraft just before it dipped a wing, and impacted a wheat field in a flat spin. 

The airline's safety director says both the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder have been recovered.

"Pilots did not contact the control tower before the crash ... the voice recorder will give a direction on what was happening at the time of the crash and why there was no contact from the cockpit crew," PIA's Shahnawaz Dara told Reuters. "Both pieces of equipment are good enough to find out what happened to the aircraft before the crash."

In addition to its own investigation, Pakistan may also call in help from outside... the kind of help the NTSB often provides to friendly countries.

Pakistan's aviation regulator said help of foreign experts could be sought to examine the recorders if necessary.

"We don't want to spoil any evidence and if we feel that we need foreign experts to handle them, we will go for it," said Air Vice Marshal Mohammad Safdar Khan, deputy managing director of Civil Aviation Authority.

FMI: www.piac.com.pk