KARACHI – A PIA pilot on Thursday refused to fly an ATR plane from Karachi to Mohenjo-daro citing the reason of engine failure.
The chartered flight was scheduled to take employees of a foreign company to the archeological site in Sindh province, a private TV channel reported citing its sources in Civil Aviation.
Authorities say there was some problem with the instrument that restarts the plane’s engine, hence the ATR could not be allowed to take off.
The passengers will be taken to Mohenjo-Daro through another flight, the airline said in a statement.
The refusal of pilot, unnamed yet, comes a day after the colossal crash in Havelian region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa which claimed 47 lives, including iconic singer turned preacher Junaid Jamshed and his family.
The airline says Captain Saleh Janjua, the pilot of the crashed ATR 42-500 that crashed on Wednesday, had made a mayday call and reported the failure of an engine before the turboprop lost contact with air traffic control.
PIA operates ATR 42-500 to connect Mohenjo-daro with scheduled passenger non-stop flights to/from Karachi and Sukkur.
ATR is a French-Italian aircraft manufacturer headquartered on the grounds of Toulouse Blagnac International Airport in Blagnac, France. It was formed in 1981 by Aérospatiale of France and Aeritalia of Italy.
