Skip to main content

PIA plane escapes being hit by mysterious drone


Incident has been reported to Civil Aviation Authority, says PIA spokesperson. — File photo
Incident has been reported to Civil Aviation Authority, says PIA spokesperson. — File photo

KARACHI: A drone was sighted hovering over a Sukkur-bound commercial aircraft of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) only minutes after it took off from the Karachi airport on Friday.
Sources said the PIA flight PK-536, an ATR aircraft, was at an altitude of 4,300 feet when the drone emerged 100 feet above it for a brief period at 5.27pm. They said the drone was a three-foot dark purple object. It was also seen on the radar screen of the air traffic control that immediately communicated the information to the Pakistan Air Force as per the standard operating procedure.
A PIA spokesperson confirmed the incident and said the pilot of PK-536 witnessed the drone at a very close distance. He said the plane landed at Sukkur safely and returned to Karachi the same evening as per schedule.
He said the incident had been reported to the Civil Aviation Authority and other authorities concerned but so far the PIA was not communicated anything about it.
In December, Britain’s second-busiest airport, Gatwick, was forced to close its only runway repeatedly due to the drone sightings. Thousands of people remained stranded at the airport as over 1,000 flights were cancelled or delayed. Arriving flights were diverted to other airports around the UK or even as far afield as Paris and Amsterdam.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Two youths killed by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir

Indian government has deployed forces across occupied Kashmir as residents observe Black Day.  Indian troops killed two Kashmiri youths in the Khonmoh area of Srinagar, Kashmir Media Service (KMS) said on Saturday. Clashes between Indian police and residents of the area erupted in the aftermath of the killings, when Indian police used force to disperse demonstrators who had come out on the streets to protest. The killings took place on India's Republic Day, which is observed as Black Day by residents of Indian-occupied Kashmir and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The call to observe India's Republic Day as Black Day was given by the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), that is led by Syed Ali Gillani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Mohammad Yasin Malik, the KMS said. The JRL leaders said in a statement that India had "no justification" to observe Republic Day in held Kashmir as the territory had been "illegally occupied" against the wishes of Kashmiri ...

Sarfraz apologises for 'black guy' comment

"My words were not directed towards anyone in particular and I certainly had no intention of upsetting anyone," says Sarfraz Ahmed. Pak­is­tan captain Sarfraz Ahmed apologised on Wednesday following a controversial comment aimed at South Africa’s Andile Phehlukwayo which was picked up by a stump microphone during the second one-day international in Durban on Tuesday. The incident occurred in the 37th over of South Africa’s run-chase during the game at Kingsmead when Phehlukwayo got an inside edge off a Shaheen Shah Afridi delivery that narrowly missed the stumps. As Phehlukwayo, who was on 50 at the time, ran to the non-striker’s end, Sarfraz was heard on the stump microphone saying in Urdu:  "Abey kaale, teri ammi aaj kahaan baitheen hain? Kya parwa ke aaye hai aaj?" When translated into English that means: "Hey black guy, where’s your mother sitting today? What [prayer] have you got her to say for you today?" The skipper tweeted...

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa sworn in as 26th Chief Justice of Pakistan

Prime Minister Imran Khan (L), President Arif Alvi (C) and Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa (R) at the oath-taking ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr. ─ Photo courtesy Imran Khan Instagram Prime Minister Imran Khan (L), President Arif Alvi (C) and Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa (R) at the oath-taking ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr. ─ Photo courtesy Government of Pakistan Twitter Prime Minister Imran Khan (L), President Arif Alvi (C) and Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa (R) at the oath-taking ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr. ─ Photo courtesy Imran Khan Instagram Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa took oath as the 26th Chief Justice of Pakistan at a ceremony at Aiwan-i-Sadr in Islamabad on Friday. Chief justice Khosa will serve as top judge for approximately 337 days and is scheduled to retire on Dec 21, 2019. President Arif Alvi administered oath to Justice Khosa before an audience of top government and military officials, Supreme Court judges, senior lawyers and dignitari...