Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane carrying 175 passengers aborted its takeoff at the last minute as its pilot detected a fault in one of its engines and applied emergency brakes.
Flight PK-791 bound for Birmingham, England, from Islamabad International Airport was midway through its run for takeoff at around 9am when the pilot applied the emergency brakes, which resulted in four of its tyres bursting. APP said there was a fire in one engine.
The Airbus A310, wet leased from a Turkish company along with its crew, was stuck on the runway for several hours and two flights were diverted.
PIA Public Relations Director Muhammad Latif told Daily Times that there were no injuries and all passengers safely got off the plane via chutes onto the runway and were taken to the lounge. He said the tyres burst because of the application of the emergency brakes, an inbuilt feature on A310 aircraft.
He said two PIA flights (PK300 and PK 742) were to land at the airport but were diverted to Lahore. APP reported the Civil Aviation Authority as saying that 15 domestic and eight international flights were affected.
Latif said the airport was opened for normal air traffic at 2 pm.
The passengers of flight PK-791 were accommodated on another aircraft due to take off for Birmingham at 8pm on Thursday, PIA said.
This was the latest in a series of minor accidents at Pakistani airports in recent weeks. In March, PIA temporarily slashed its flights to Europe by nearly half after the European Union barred most of its planes due to safety concerns.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007\05\18\story_18-5-2007_pg1_4