At least 10 passengers were injured as the tyre of a domestic Shaheen Air International flight burst during an emergency landing at Allama Iqbal International Airport on Tuesday. The Karachi-Lahore flight NL-142 was carrying more than a hundred passengers, airport sources say. Shaheen Airlines flies four flights from Karachi to Lahore daily. The injured were provided with immediate medical treatment. None are said to be in critical condition. The plane skidded off the Lahore runway when faulty landing gear caused the tyre to burst, according to initial reports. The incident highlights the relatively lax attitude of private carriers towards air safety and maintaining the airworthiness of their aircraft. In this instance, the plane was not on a wet lease but owned by the airline itself, which increases the latter’s obligation to explain how it was pressed into service with a potentially catastrophic defect. In the past few years, two major crashes involving planes owned by private airliners have highlighted the lax attitudes towards passenger safety. A plane belonging to Bhoja Air crashed en route to Islamabad in 2012, while pilot error was cited as the cause behind the 2010 Airblue crash. Keeping a close eye on their profits, private carriers are more likely to cut corners and press defective aircraft into service or pressure pilots into flying without allowing them adequate periods of rest in between flights or without giving them refresher courses and evaluating them for flight discipline on a regular basis.
pk.shafaqna.com
