Pilot of the unfortunate PIA plane PK-8303, Captain Sajjad Gul, declared dead after the aircraft crashed on Friday.
In his 24-year carrier in airline industry, Captain Sajjad Gul had an experience of flying planes for more than 17,000 hours. He flew A320 airbus for 4,700 hours.
Captain Sajjad Gul was a resident of Defence Housing Society (DHA) Lahore. He left behind his wife and four children.
On Friday, Captain Sajjad Gul along with other crew and 91 passengers flew PIA plane from Lahore to Karachi.
Minutes before landing at Karachi airport, the captain first informed the air traffic control about developing some technical fault after which the plane vanished from the radar as the contact was lost just a few minutes before the crash.
The plane captain can be heard saying “we have lost engine” after which he repeated “mayday, mayday” during his last communication with the airport traffic controller before losing contact, said CAA.
See Also: Govt names team to investigate PIA plane crash
The PIA plane, which crashed in Karachi was "technically sound", PIA CEO Arshad Malik told a press conference in Karachi on Friday evening.
Malik said that 2-3 days were required to complete the operation and then the Aviation Ministry would launch an inquiry into the crash.
A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft with more than 90 passengers and eight crew members on board crashed in a residential area near Jinnah International Airport earlier in the day. The death toll from the crash rose to 80, whereas, two passengers miraculously survived.