Pakistan plane crash that killed 97 was caused by 'human error.'

An interim investigation report states that the plane crash happened because the pilots and air traffic controllers did not follow standard protocols.

An interim investigation report states that the plane crash happened because the pilots and air traffic controllers did not follow standard protocols.On June 24, 2020, Pakistan’s aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan stated in the Pakistan National Assembly that an interim investigation report found that the crash of a commercial plane in Karachi last month was caused due to human error. The minister announced that the pilots and the air traffic control officials had ignored standard protocols.

The Airbus A320 of national carrier Pakistan International Airlines crashed on May 22 in Karachi’s Model Colony, killing 97 people. It came down a kilometer short of the runway on its second landing attempt. Only two passengers survived.

Minister Khan said that according to the data retrieved from the cockpit voice recorder, the pilot and co-pilot were discussing the coronavirus pandemic. Their families had been affected, he said. The pilot failed to deploy the landing gear correctly, making the aircraft touch the ground without wheels down in the first attempt before taking off again. The report states that when the plane took off again, it could not gain altitude because the engines had failed, which led to a crash.