Missing wheel

It was shocking to read about PIA's flight PK-306 traveling from Karachi to Lahore, which landed at Allama Iqbal International airport without one of its wheels. This says a lot about the on-ground technical staff doing inspection of flights before departure. According to some press reports, the wheel was present when the plane took off from Karachi and the aircraft made a normal landing.

Why can't the ground staff present in the control tower at the airport watch every outgoing and incoming flight with the help of binoculars before granting landing and takeoff permissions. This can avert major aviation accidents and pilots can be informed of such malfunctions.

M Rafique Zakaria

Karachi

*****

This letter refers to the news report ‘Plane found to be without one wheel after landing: PIA’ (March 14, 2025). And we are actually trying to boost the image of this airline in the hopes that someone will be willing to buy it.

Dr Irfan Zafar

Vancouver

Canada