On 2ⁿᵈ July, 2008, a Pakistan International Airlines B777-240ER aircraft, registration marks AP-BHX, while passing through 18,000' feet during descent at Milan Malpensa airport (Italy) encountered severe weather conditions, causing extensive damage to aircraft structure. The aircraft remained at Milan airport for 51 days for necessary repairs by Boeing costing more than seven million US $ to national exchequer. Though the incident had occurred in Italian airspace and as per the standards of ICAO Annexure 13, the investigation, if any was to be conducted by Italian authorities, yet DG CAA; taking into consideration the operational aspects of the incident, ordered an inquiry to determine weaknesses which might have contributed to the serious incident. The investigations by PCAA (SIB) as state of registry and operator, was based on the statements and interviews of the aircrew. The evidence indicated that aircrew were aware of the bad en-route weather, and made a request with air traffic control of Italy for a diversion to avoid the weather but the same was not given instantly by air traffic controller of Milan due traffic; hence they could not avoid the weather resulting into serious damage to aircraft. SIB produced an "Interim Report" and notified Boeing company and Italian Civil Aviation Authorities thereby requesting for an access to the information available at air traffic control services of Italy (Malpensa). The initial response from Italy was lukewarm, however after the visit of the Pakistani investigation team, the authorities realised their obligations as signatory to Chicago Convention and instituted an investigation as state of occurrence, through Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volvo (ANSV). The Investigator-In-Charge, designate Mr. Pannetta in consultation with the Safety & Investigation Board of Pakistan CAA produced the final report on 28ᵗʰ January 2009, as per ICAO Annexure - 13. Same information has been reported in the ECCAIRS data base. PCAA acknowledges the efforts made by ANSV - Italy during the investigation.
