Foreign cockpit crew acquired by Pakistan International Airlines on wet lease have complained of overloading the aircraft with cargo which imbalances the flight and is a hazard to safety. PIA had acquired four Boeing 737-800, two from Turkey and two from Czech Republic on wet lease for a period of three months in November last year but subsequently the lease period was extended till the March 2014.
A well-informed source in PIA told Business Recorder here on Thursday that the national carrier is operating flights under serious threat to flight safety due, either to negligence of cargo staff or with their connivance to make "speed money". He regretted that the cargo department of PIA keeps endangering the lives of passengers by overloading flights with cargo above the given limits of aircraft and the management is neglecting it criminally since long.
It has been found that ramp staff of the airline change weight of cargo in the papers from what is loaded finally in flights, ie loaded cargo is heavier than what is declared which is a big safety issue but the department is not paying any heed to control this practice.
'This has been in practice since long and despite many complaints from pilots the cargo department is simply indifferent to this safety hazard. They are endangering the lives of passengers just to make things easier for them, which is a sheer nonsense,' said the source.
The data regarding the weight of cargo and passengers loaded in the plane is given to flight crew before the departure, based on which the pilot and his crew calculates the speed needed for safe take off, ie the length of runway to be used. Often, however, it is revealed on pilot during the take off roll that the weight given was not correct and he has to push the aircraft engine to the take off limit before the runway ends.
The source further said that this shows how non-professional staff the airline has that is letting down this national asset. 'Sometime back the foreign crew (Czech) operating leased airplanes complained about this overweight issue that imbalances flights. This time their senior management has written to the PIA management to deal with this serious safety issue.
The aircraft owner airline wrote to the PIA management that it has received many reports regarding weight and balance from its flight crew operating flight on behalf of PIA. 'He said their suspicion got confirmed that responsible ramp staff loads cargo which is always found heavier than what is declared. This is confirmed as air-conditioners reach rotate speed during take-offs,' said the source.
The airline reiterated that it was a very serious issue which affects flight safety. He has requested for proper investigation to avoid similar situations in future. PIA management, however, as usual is sitting duck and the cargo department is continues with its tricks.
Recently, the source said, their safety manager asked PIA management whether any progress has been made to rectify the situation, on which it was explained that it is a high priority issue for PIA operations. PIA management, however, it appears is taking it very lightly as if there is nothing to worry about,' reasoned the source.
In July 2013, PIA operated Pk-302 from Karachi to Lahore with major air safety violations owing to lack of coordination between its engineering and cargo departments. PIA's cargo department played its role by overburdening the flight and reported wrong figures about the actual weight.
According to the preliminary report, the take-off gross weight (togw) was reported around 290 tons at Karachi airport but at the time of takeoff the aircraft was heavier at least by 10 tons as aircraft took off late at V2 instead of V1. Aviation experts say that an aircraft can easily take-off at V1 speed with normal weight, but using V2 it means, the aircraft is heavily loaded and will cover more than required area of runway before takeoff, which could be very dangerous.
'The aircraft had to use full cruise thrust as the required speed was not achieved. It is serious flight safety issue,' stated the de-brief report. It further mentioned that on trim sheet the load in compartment (other than passenger/cabin baggage) was shown as 22.57 tons; however the pallets of mangoes were in quite a large number and probably their weight was erroneously shown low.
This one example clearly raises the question as to since when this criminal negligence is in practice in PIA. "It is strange why the management is not taking any action against the cargo staff that is putting lives of passengers at risk only for few pennies," the source said.
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