Pakistan International Airlines Flight 268 was an
Airbus A300
The Airbus A300 is a wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Airbus.
In September 1967, aircraft manufacturers in the United Kingdom, France, and West Germany signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a large airliner.
West G ...
,
registration
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), the ...
which
crash
Crash or CRASH may refer to:
Common meanings
* Collision, an impact between two or more objects
* Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond
* Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating
* Couch su ...
ed while approaching
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
's
Tribhuvan International Airport
Tribhuvan International Airport ( Nepali: त्रिभुवन अन्तर्राष्ट्रिय विमानस्थल) (, colloquially referred to as TIA) is an international airport located in Kathmandu, Bagmati, Nepal. I ...
on 28 September 1992. All 167 people on board were killed. Flight 268 is the worst crash of
Pakistan International Airlines
Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...
, and the worst ever to occur in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
.
Aircraft and crew
![A300B-Pia-AP-BCP-438](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/A300B-Pia-AP-BCP-438.jpg)
The aircraft involved was a 16-year-old Airbus A300B4-203 registered as AP-BCP (serial number 025). The aircraft was built in 1976 and flew its maiden flight on 23 March the same year. On 2 May 1977, the aircraft was delivered to
Bavaria Germanair
Bavaria Germanair was an airline that came into being following the merger of Bavaria Fluggesellschaft and Germanair on 1 January 1977.
The airline's main area of activity was operating charter flights from German airports to European holiday ...
, and was registered as D-AMAZ. About a week later, it was leased to
EgyptAir
Egyptair (Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-A ...
. The aircraft was re-registered as SU-AZY and subsequently sold to
Hapag-Lloyd Flug
Hapag-Lloyd Flug (between 2005 and 2007 also marketed as ''Hapagfly'') was a German leisure airline headquartered in Langenhagen, Lower Saxony that was originally founded by Hapag-Lloyd and later became a subsidiary of TUI Group. It operated sch ...
after its merger with
Bavaria Germanair
Bavaria Germanair was an airline that came into being following the merger of Bavaria Fluggesellschaft and Germanair on 1 January 1977.
The airline's main area of activity was operating charter flights from German airports to European holiday ...
. The aircraft was then re-registered as D-AHLZ and leased to the following airlines:
*
EgyptAir
Egyptair (Egyptian Arabic
Egyptian Arabic, locally known as Colloquial Egyptian ( ar, العامية المصرية, ), or simply Masri (also Masry) (), is the most widely spoken vernacular Arabic dialect in Egypt. It is part of the Afro-A ...
(January 1979October 1982)
*
Kuwait Airways
Kuwait Airways ( ar, الخطوط الجوية الكويتية, ) is the national carrier of Kuwait, with its head office on the grounds of Kuwait International Airport, Al Farwaniyah Governorate. It operates scheduled international services th ...
(AprilJuly 1983)
*
Capitol Air
Capitol Air was a charter airline in the United States which was operational from 1946 to its bankruptcy filing on November 23, 1984. It was founded as Capitol Airways in 1946, and then renamed Capitol International Airways in 1967. In 1981, the ...
(JuneOctober 1984)
*
Air Jamaica
Air Jamaica was the national airline of Jamaica. It was owned and operated by Caribbean Airlines from May 2011 until the cessation of operations in 2015. Caribbean Airlines Limited, headquartered in Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago, had administrati ...
(FebruaryApril 1985)
*
Condor Flugdienst
Condor, legally incorporated as ''Condor Flugdienst GmbH'' and stylized as condor, is a German airline established in 1955 with Frankfurt Airport being its main base. Condor offers scheduled flights to leisure destinations and operates, from Ge ...
(MayNovember 1985)
On 21 April 1986, the aircraft was delivered to Pakistan International Airlines, and was re-registered as AP-BCP. The aircraft had a total of 39,045 flying hours and 19,172 landings at the time of the crash.
The captain was 49-year-old Iftikhar Janjua, who had 13,192 flight hours, including 6,260 hours on the Airbus A300. The first officer was 38-year-old Hassan Akhtar, who had 5,849 flight hours, with 1,469 of them on the Airbus A300.
There were two flight engineers on board: one operating and the other observing. The operating flight engineer was an unnamed 40-year-old male who had 5,289 flight hours, with 2,516 of them on the Airbus A300. The observing flight engineer, 42-year-old Muhammad Ashraf, had 8,220 flight hours, including 4,503 hours on the Airbus A300.
Accident
Flight 268 departed
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
at 11:13 AM
Pakistan Standard Time
Pakistan Standard Time ( ur, , abbreviated as PKT) is UTC+05:00 hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. The time zone is in use during standard time in Asia.
History
Pakistan had been following UTC+05:30 since 1907 (during the British Raj) ...
for
Kathmandu
, pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia
, coordinates =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name =
, subdivision_type1 = Province
, subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...
. Upon contacting Nepalese
air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
, the aircraft was cleared for an approach from the south called the ''Sierra approach''. An aircraft cleared to use this approach was at the time directed to pass over a reporting point called "Romeo" located 41 miles (66 km) south of the Kathmandu
VOR
VOR or vor may refer to:
Organizations
* Vale of Rheidol Railway in Wales
* Voice of Russia, a radio broadcaster
* Volvo Ocean Race, a yacht race
Science, technology and medicine
* VHF omnidirectional range, a radio navigation aid used in a ...
(or at ''41
DME'') at an altitude of 15,000 feet. The aircraft was to then descend in seven steps to 5,800 feet, passing over a reporting point known as "Sierra" located at 10 DME at an altitude of 9,500 feet, before landing at Kathmandu. This approach allowed aircraft to pass over the
Mahabharat Range
The Lower Himalayan Range ( ne, पर्वत शृङ्खला parbat shrinkhalā) – also called the Middle Himalayas or Lesser Himalayas or Himachal – is a major east–west mountain range with elevations 3,700 to 4,500 m (12,000 to ...
directly south of Kathmandu (the crest of which is located just north of the Sierra reporting point) at a safe altitude.
Shortly after reporting at 10 DME, at 2.30 pm the aircraft crashed at approximately into the side of the 8,250 ft (2,524 m) mountain at
Bhattedanda
Bhattedanda is a village and former Village Development Committee that is now part of Bagmati Rural Municipality in Province No. 3 of central Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 2,044 in 349 individual households. ...
, disintegrating on impact, instantly killing all aboard; the tail fin separated and fell into the forest at the base of the mountainside.
This accident occurred 59 days after
Thai Airways International Flight 311
Thai Airways International Flight 311 was a flight from Bangkok, Thailand's Don Mueang International Airport to Kathmandu, Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport. On Friday, 31 July 1992, an Airbus A310-304 on the route, registration crashed on ...
crashed north of Kathmandu.
Victims
Most of the victims were a mix of European, Nepalese and other nationalities.
Investigation and causes
After the crash, the Nepali Military assisted with investigators to find the aircraft's
black box
In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...
. The investigation was handled by Andrew Robinson from the
Air Accident Investigation Branch
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) investigates civil aircraft accidents and serious incidents within the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and crown dependencies. It is also the Space Accident Investigation Authority (SAIA) ...
(AAIB). The black box was initially sent to Paris for decoding.
At the time of impact, eye witnesses near the accident site confirmed that there was little to no wind, rain, and no thunderstorms in the area. Investigators found no technical problems documented for the A300 and, after considering it as a cause, subsequently ruled out terrorism.
Although no pertinent flight deck conversation was recovered from Flight 268's
cockpit voice recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
by investigators with the
Transportation Safety Board of Canada
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB, french: Bureau de la sécurité des transports du Canada, BST), officially the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board (french: link=no, Bureau canadien d'enquête sur les ...
(TSB), which assisted with the investigation, data recovered from the
flight data recorder
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...
by the TSB showed that the aircraft initiated each step of its descent one step too early.
[ At 16 DME the aircraft was a full 1,000 feet below its cleared altitude; at 10 DME (the Sierra reporting point) it was 1,300 feet below its cleared altitude. The aircraft approached the Mahabharat Range at an insufficient altitude and crashed into the south slope.][ Although the pilots of Flight 268 reported their aircraft's altitude accurately to ]air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...
, controllers did nothing to warn them of their inappropriate altitude until seconds before the accident.[
Investigators determined that the accident had been caused mainly by pilot error. Visibility was poor due to overcast and the ground proximity warning system would not have been triggered in time because of the steep terrain.][ The ]approach plate
Approach plates (or, more formally, instrument approach procedure charts) are the printed charts of instrument approach procedures that pilots use to fly instrument approaches during instrument flight rules (IFR) operations. Each country maintains ...
s for Kathmandu issued to PIA pilots were also determined to be unclear,[ and Nepalese air traffic controllers were judged timid and reluctant to intervene in what they saw as piloting matters such as terrain separation. The report recommended that ]ICAO
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...
review navigational charts and encourage their standardisation, and that the approach to Kathmandu Airport be changed to be less complex.[
]
Memorials
PIA paid for and maintains the Lele PIA Memorial Park at Lele, at the foot of a mountain about 10km north of the crash site.
The Wilkins Memorial Trust, a UK charitable organisation that provides aid to Nepal, was established in memory of a family killed in the crash.
Dramatization
The accident is featured in the first episode of Season 20 of ''Mayday
Mayday is an emergency procedure word used internationally as a distress signal in voice-procedure radio communications.
It is used to signal a life-threatening emergency primarily by aviators and mariners, but in some countries local organiza ...
,'' also known as ''Air Crash Investigation.'' The episode is titled "Kathmandu Descent".
See also
* List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
This list of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft includes notable events that have a corresponding Wikipedia article. Entries in this list involve passenger or cargo aircraft that are operating commercially and meet this list ...
* Thai Airways International Flight 311
Thai Airways International Flight 311 was a flight from Bangkok, Thailand's Don Mueang International Airport to Kathmandu, Nepal's Tribhuvan International Airport. On Friday, 31 July 1992, an Airbus A310-304 on the route, registration crashed on ...
* List of airplane accidents in Nepal
Foreign aircraft accidents
Domestic aircraft accidents
Helicopter accidents
References
{{reflist
Aviation accidents and incidents in Nepal ...
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pia Flight 268
Aviation accidents and incidents in Nepal
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1992
Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
Accidents and incidents involving the Airbus A300
268
__NOTOC__
Year 268 ( CCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Paternus and Egnatius (or, less frequently, year 1021 ...
1992 in Nepal
History of Nepal (1951–2008)
September 1992 events in Asia
1992 disasters in Nepal