They Landed on Their Bellies: Why 98 People Didn't Survive PIA 8303

They Landed on Their Bellies: Why 98 People Didn't Survive PIA 8303

The sound of aluminum grinding against concrete echoed for miles when an Airbus A320’s engines hit Runway 25L first - the airplane was intact and 99 people were alive for a brief, terrible moment. How did an aircraft with a valid airworthiness certificate, a captain with 17,252 hours, and a plane that had flown six times since returning to service end with 98 preventable deaths?

In this episode, we tell who was on Flight 8303, what happened during the final approach and immediate aftermath, and the systemic failures that made those engines touch concrete. Could the crash have been avoided if oversight and pilot qualification issues had been addressed months or years earlier?

Date: May 22, 2020 Aircraft: Airbus A320-214, registration AP-BLD Passengers onboard: 99 Total fatalities: 98 Airframe hours: 47,124

- The aircraft touched down belly-first at 14:28 local time on Runway 25L at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport. - Ninety-seven passengers died within the hour and one more died ten days later, a total of 98 deaths. - The airplane had returned to service on May 7, 2020, after roughly two months grounded for the COVID-19 pandemic and completed six flights before Flight 8303. - Captain Sajjad Gul was 58 years old with 17,252 total flight hours; he was the pilot monitoring on this flight. - Investigators later revealed 262 of Pakistan’s 860 licensed pilots held inauthentic credentials, and PIA suspended 150 of its 434 active pilots as the probe widened.

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