KARACHI: A small private plane made an emergency landing at the Super Highway on Thursday morning, after it bore an engine failure.
According to a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) official, the aircraft had one trainer and two trainees on board when it made the emergency landing. All passengers were reported to be safe. The official added that the plane had left for Nawabshah Thursday morning and was due to land at the Jinnah International Airport. “The small Piper plane owned by a private company was allowed to land on highway about 27 kilometres away from Karachi after one of its two engines developed a fault,” he said. The CAA official also said that the plane had two engines out of which one had stopped working during the flight.
“The pilot asked us. He had no option but to land the plane on the highway as he safely did,” said the CAA official, adding that highway police had helped to control traffic on the ground to ensure a safe landing. “The three-occupants, including the pilot of the plane disembarked safely after nose-diving on the sandy ground 3-km off the main highway,” said an official of the Motorway Police at Toll Plaza while talking to APP on phone.
A local expert on civil aviation said that these incidents of malfunctioning of engines mainly occur due to lack of maintenance by the owners. The US-made Cessna 182 was introduced first in 1956 and in later years it was modified with various models. After suspension of its production for several years, Cessna’s re-built version was introduced in early 1990s with successfull flying track record the world over. – Dailytimes
