CCTV footage from ATC shows PK-8303’s landing gear was not down

At least 97 people lost their lives after an Airbus A320 passenger airliner crashed into a residential neighbourhood while on approach to the airport in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, last month on May 22nd .

Since the day of crash, many different theories are being circulated as the cause of the crash. Earlier today, pictures that were taken from the Air Traffic Control’s tower surfaced which show that the aircraft’s gears were retracted at the time of touchdown however it is yet to be ascertained that whether the landing gears were in retracted position throughout the approach or were the retracted a little too early while executing a go around. The pictures show that the aircraft’s engines scraped off the surface of the runway and are engulfed in fire.

The initial report from Civil Aviation Authority said that the point of the aircraft’s impact with the runway was near Taxiway Delta and that is where it is said that the CCTV caught the footage of the aircraft’s touchdown. Aviation experts tried to plot the exact coordinates on the airport’s map. The area which is circled red is said to the aircraft’s point of touchdown and the area which is circled blue is the point where the Air Traffic Control’s CCTV is installed Earlier today, some excerpts from the Preliminary Report of the crash also came up. According to sources, some of the findings are :

• A technical fault with aircraft’s systems can’t be ruled out

• Cockpit crew did not follow procedures and ignored ATC instructions.

• ATC failed to force cockpit crew to follow instructions.

• The aircraft should have been stopped when it touched the runway surface with retracted landing gear.

• Engines damaged by hitting runway surface failed after aircraft climbed again.

• The aircraft was not handed over to control tower by approach control.

• Damage engines' debris was also not removed from runway when the aircraft was making another attempt to land.

• PIA and CAA methods/procedures have also been blamed for their failure to control accidents/incidents.

The Preliminary crash investigation report prepared by Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) will be presented by Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan in the National Assembly on June 24.