The Press Stories
The recorders, commonly known as “black boxes,” were recovered after the flight, PIA 8303, crashed in a dense residential area adjacent to the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi on May 22, killing all but 99 people. board.
The French civil aviation safety investigation authority, BEA, is the accredited representative for the Airbus 320 plane involved in the accident.
A French team arrived in Karachi on May 26, according to BEA. The French authority said Thursday that it had received a request from Pakistan to handle the repair and data download operations for the recorders at a later date.
“The mission at the site is nearing completion,” read Saturday’s tweet, adding that “Pakistan’s AAIB team will fly to France.”
On Friday, Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said the initial report of the accident will be released on June 22.
Khan said the ministry had informed Prime Minister Imran Khan, who ordered that all reports be made public.
The onboard pilot told air traffic control in Karachi that he had lost engines before the plane crashed.
“We are advancing directly, we have lost engines,” the pilot can be heard saying about the plane’s approach, in an audio recording of the aircraft’s communications obtained by CNN from a Pakistani government source.
A few seconds later, the pilot can be heard making several first-time calls, followed by a response from air traffic control saying that both runways are clear. The audio is then cut off.
The flight from Lahore was a special service to help passengers get home during the Eid vacation after the coronavirus blockade was relieved.
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