Decoding of PIA plane’s black box completed: investigators

E-Paper | October 01, 2026

Decoding of PIA plane’s black box completed: investigators

The Newspaper's Staff Reporter Published June 6, 2020

AAIB “will publish at a later date a preliminary statement on the event based on downloaded data”. — AFP/File

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KARACHI: French investigators probing the May 22 Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash have announced that downloading and decoding of the black box of the ill-fated aircraft has been completed.

The French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) on Friday said in a tweet that downloading and decoding of the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, the two components of the PK-8303 black box, “has ended. Analysis will continue”.

It said that the Pakistan’s Aircraft Accident and Investigation Board (AAIB) “will publish at a later date a preliminary statement on the event based on downloaded data/ Pakistan’s AAIB is leading the investigation/current communication on their behalf”.

Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had already announced that the preliminary report of the plane crash would be tabled in parliament on June 22.

Ninety-seven of the 99 passengers and crew members onboard the PIA flight were killed when the plane crashed into houses in Karachi’s Model Colony area on May 22. A teenage girl also lost her life on ground.

Airbus, being the manufacturer of the A320 aircraft had sent an 11-member team to Pakistan to offer technical assistance to AAIB investigators. The team had earlier this week left for France along with the FDR and CVR of the aircraft. AAIB President Air Commodore Usman Ghani also accompanied the French team.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2020

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Khalid Naseem

Jun 06, 2020 10:05am

"Better late than never" - the people of Pakistan expects from its leaders now the truth. For too long we have been taken for a ride. In the 60's PIA was one of the best ! Its cockpit and cabin crew were selected on merit and again its Engineering workshop - the best in this area. Shall we or shall we not make PIA great again ?

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Jehengir khan

Jun 06, 2020 10:09am

Airlines won't accept their failure and the entire blame will be on dead pilots...now who will speak for dead pilot? Nobody......case closed....

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Sanjay Mishra

Jun 06, 2020 10:10am

Its the pilots error, lead to a crash, who did try belly landing at the first attempt without notifying the ATC that the landing gear did not work, and then flew again with those scratched engines which failed in the midair leading to crash.

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Subhi

Jun 06, 2020 10:38am

The Result is known to everyone. The blame will be put on Pilot shoulder which is the easiest way out to cover many shortcomings.

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Syed A. Mateen

Jun 06, 2020 11:50am

The French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) should make their analysis about the crash of PK-8303 public so that people of Pakistan should know as what was stored in the black box of the crashed PIA aircraft.

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Vikas

Jun 06, 2020 12:00pm

Pilot Error. He was incompetent and forgot to lower the landing gear.

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ARK

Jun 06, 2020 12:14pm

I would trust BEA's investigation. PIA and CAA should not have any say in the investigations. These are the entities that should be under investigation.

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A. Nasir

Jun 06, 2020 01:00pm

@Jehengir khan, Tragically, it was an accident bearing all hints towards pilot error.

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fareed

Jun 06, 2020 02:21pm

@Jehengir khan, Government who ownes it and is responsible for the peoples life.

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bhaRAT©

Jun 06, 2020 03:05pm

@Vikas, You should concentrate on your 'flying-cofins'!

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Rehman

Jun 06, 2020 03:20pm

Aircraft manufacturers are concerned that there Be no design defect. Therefore they would not blame it on the pilot unless it is proven through data recorder analysis. All the Boeing 737 max have been grounded all over the world for the last two years because of design flaw discovered in two accidents. Boeing is still working on it. These two accidents were outside United States.

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Abbas kd

Jun 06, 2020 03:24pm

Pk8303 flight data shows that during the approach, aircraft was more than twice the required altitude, & was decending more than twice the recommended speed that's why the landing gear automatically didn't extend but instead alarm was going on in the background during to conversation with ATC. Pilots also ignored ATC directions to go around multiple times. Pilots evenrually decided to go around after both engines were damaged on the runway by multiple scraps. Company's working culture & chief pilot are to blame, not just the pilots.

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Dija

Jun 06, 2020 04:52pm

@Vikas, the pilot was very experienced; the calmness of his voice facing the death so closely was unimaginable. There certainly was a technical and ATC faults that there are covering up!

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Brownman

Jun 06, 2020 05:11pm

Pilot did not pay heed to the ATC instructions, and on top of that forgot to put the landing gear down.

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Reader

Jun 06, 2020 06:08pm

The whole sequence of the flight from start to its most unfortunate end has to be re-played, so that such accidents do not happen again.

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Rahul

Jun 06, 2020 06:11pm

Black box data will speak the truth.

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Fistula Khan

Jun 06, 2020 06:12pm

PIA is worlds best

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Rahul

Jun 06, 2020 06:14pm

If the black box data points to Pilot error then it has to be accepted. If data says that the pilot did not lower the landing gear then he was incompetent.

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Rahul

Jun 06, 2020 06:15pm

@Dija, Experienced pilots can also make error under pressure.

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Rahul

Jun 06, 2020 06:17pm

@Vikas, It does seem this way.

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Desi

Jun 06, 2020 06:30pm

Mistakes happen in every field of life regardless of how experienced the person is. This appears to be 99% pilot error since a lot of protocols have to be broken to land a plane without lowering the landing gears. If a deep investigation is done, not just info from black boxes, it might reveal short comings in PIA is general also but it is highly unlikely Pakistani investigators will dig that deep. They will be satisfied with the result of the black boxes data and recording.

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FAQ

Jun 06, 2020 06:56pm

@Rahul, Only If The Data Is Revealed!

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SAK

Jun 06, 2020 07:05pm

@Jehengir khan, it's technical input based on the decoded data. Even if technical fault in aircraft is observed, Airbus will not be responsible as it is not maintaining the ill fated aircraft.

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Mushif

Jun 06, 2020 07:12pm

@Rahul, What if they tried lowering the landing gear and it didn't lower?

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Rahul

Jun 06, 2020 07:30pm

@Fistula Khan, Can you please point me to where this is posted ? When I looked I found PIA rated as the third worst airlines in the world. See below: "AirHelp announced world airline rankings for 2018 and unsurprisingly PIA has been ranked as the third worst airline in the world. In 2017 PIA ranked at 80th position out of total 87 spots while this time in 2018 Pakistan International Airlines has been given 70th position out of total 72 airlines ranking."

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Nalayak Khan

Jun 06, 2020 08:16pm

@Mushif, I believe there were some repair needs and still it was allowed to fly. Other may include mechanical and electrical failures besides human (pilot and ground staff) errors which are also part of such accidents.

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Adnan

Jun 06, 2020 11:57pm

Loss making airlines around the world are considered unsafe and are put under strict scrutiny. It’s about time the Government of Pakistan should take ownership of this institution. Either run it properly or shut it down. There is no point putting the lives of the public at risk. PIA should not be made another post-retirement placement bureau for the elite of Pakistan

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Irfan

Jun 07, 2020 09:56pm

Everyone is blaming pilot but reality is that the landing gare was not working and the pilot tried his level best to save the plane and its passengers. He never loses his nerves and his voice never even trembled till the time of crash. He handled the situation very professionally but it was his misfortune that the landing gare didn't worked and later the plane lost its thrust.

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