KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines has dismissed reports regarding the possibility of a fault in engine of the ill-fated PIA plane before flight. “It’s premature to say that propeller of one the engines of #PK661 had started to spin in reverse.
Such reports are speculative and misleading,” he said in a statement shared on twitter. Both engines of the aircraft were fully operational at the time of takeoff from Chitral and some problem developed during flight, he said, adding that the whole incident was being thoroughly investigated by the Safety Investigation Board (SIB), which is an independent body working under the Aviation Division. All items recovered from the site, including cockpit instruments, are part of the evidence and may give valuable insights about the cause of the accident, but cannot provide conclusive evidence in isolation, he maintained.
He assured that SIB would carry out a detailed, independent and transparent inquiry into the matter. Truth should be brought out and shared with the people in the shortest possible time, he said. He requested the media to wait until the investigation process is completed, and refrain from drawing any premature conclusions. It is pertinent to mention here that ATR-42 and 72 (more than 1200 aircraft built) use engines manufactured by one of world’s most reliable engine manufacturers, Pratt & Whitney, which has provided more than 13,000 commercial engines to a range of aircraft manufacturers including Boeing and Airbus since 1925, in addition to providing more than 7,300 engines for multiple military aircrafts.
