PIA Flying Training Academy Karachi Airport 1/5/1967-17/6/1969*

Status: Pilot Trainee

Aircraft: Cessna 150: AP-ATB; AP-ATD; AP-ATE; AP-ATZ. Cessna 310B: AP-AKP

*Format: day/month/year; P1 = pilot in command; P1 U/S = Pilot in command under supervision; P2 = Copilot or First Officer

Instructors

• Flight Lieutenant Retd. F.H.K. Ghori Chief Flying Instructor
• Group Captain Retd. S.A. Aziz Principal Flying Academy
• Group Captain Retd. M.J. Khan
• Group Captain Retd. A.R. Khan
• Manzoor E. Khan
• Hyder Baloch Alyani
• Mahmood

Cross Country: Bholari; Gharo; Hyderabad; Kalu Kahar; Jangshahi; Jhimpir; Mirpur Batoro; Mirpur Khas; Mulla Katiar; Matiari; Matli; Nawabshah; Petaro; Pir Patho; Sujawal; Sari Sing; Thana Bula Khan; Thana Muhammad Khan; Thatta

RAWALPINDI BASE 1/8/1969-26/8/1969

AIRCRAFT FOKKER F-27: AP-AUX; AP-ALW; AP-AUW

STATUS: P2 TRAINING

DAY TRAINING AT RAWALPINDI: 1/8/1969-22/8/1969; INSTRUCTORS: Shaukat Ali; S.A.H. Rizvi

NIGHT TRAINING AT KARACHI: 25/8/1969-26/8./1969; INSTRUCTORS: Manzoor Chaudhri; Mir Rashid

RAWALPINDI BASE 15/9/1969-4/10/1970

STATUS: P2

AIRCRAFT FOKKER F-27: AP-AUX; AP-ALW; AP-AUW; AP-ALX; AP-ATO; AP-ALM; AP-ALN

CHIEF PILOT Mushtaq Sharif

CAPTAINS: Abbas; Amin Akhtar; Fida; Mushtaq Sharif; Manzoor Chaudhri; Masud Ahmad; Nayyer Mohsin; Osman Khan; Rahat Hussain; S.A.H. Rizvi; Shaukat Ali

CAPTAINS TEMPORARILY FROM LAHORE BASE DUE SHORTAGE: Zahid Hussain; Shahid Ali; Anwarullah; Mansoor Malik; Akbar Afridi

OPERATED TO: GILGIT; DERA ISMAIL KHAN; KARACHI; LAHORE; MULTAN; PESHAWAR: RAWALPINDI; SKARDU

LAHORE BASE 11/10/1970-19/8/1971

STATUS: P2

CHIEF PILOT MUHAMMAD ZAKI

CAPTAINS: Zahid Hussain; Mubashir Ahmed; Mansoor Malik; Fazluddin Haqqi; Shahid; Ashraf; Zuberi; Jaswal; Muhammad Munir; Muhammad Zaki; Asghar

AIRCRAFT: AP-ATO; AP-AUX; AP-ALX; AP-ALW; AP-AUR; AP-ALN; AP-AUW

OPERATED TO: Chitral; Kabul; Hyderabad; Lyallpur; Mohenjo Daro; Multan; Quetta; Peshawar Rawalpindi; Sukkur

KARACHI BASE 6/11/1971-21/10/1973

FOKKER F-27: AP-ATO; AP-ALW; AP-ALN; AP-AUW; AP-ATU; AP-AUS; AP-AXB; AP-AXF

CAPTAINS: Akmal; Amjad; Bhurgari; Dara; Ghori; Humayun; Jaswal; Mughal; Mannan; Musawwar; Najam; N.D. Khan; Rabbani; Rahat Hussain; Sajid Qureshi; Shahid; Teherani; T.H. Naqvi; Wajid Ali Shah; Waseem; Zaheer; Zuberi

OPERATED TO: Sukkur; Multan; Dera Ismail Khan; Lahore; Lyallpur; Mohenjo Daro; Panjgur; Pasni; Gwadar; Masirah; Salalah; Sui; Nawabshah; Jiwani; Muscat; Hyderabad; Nawabshah; Quetta

KARACHI BASE 7/12/1974-9/2/1975

STATUS: P2

AIRCRAFT FOKKER F-27: AP-ATU; AP-ALW; AP-AXF; AP-ATO; AP-ALN; AP-AUR

CAPTAINS: T. H. Naqvi; Raziuddin; Aqeel; Bokhari; Ansar; M.R. Mirza; Suri

OPERATED TO: Athens; Beirut; Dubai; Gwadar; Hyderabad; Jiwani; Kuwait; Muscat; Multan; Mohenjo Daro; Nawabshah; Pasni; Panjgur; Sukkur; Sui; Tripoli

MULTAN FLYING CLUB 11/2/1975-14/2/1975

AIRCRAFT: Cessna 150: AP-ALU;

Solo night flying 24 hours completion

KARACHI BASE 4/3/1975-28/4/1975

STATUS P1 Training

AIRCRAFT Fokker F-27 : AP-ALW; AP-ATO; AP-ATU

INSTRUCTORS: F.H.K. Ghori; T.H. Naqvi; Dara

KARACHI BASE 1/5/1975-2/7/1975

STATUS: P1 Under Supervision

AIRCRAFT: Fokker F-27: AP-ATU; AP-ALW

SUPERVISORY CAPTAINS: T.H. Naqvi; Aqeel; Raziuddin

OPERATED TO: Gwadar; Hyderabad; Jiwani; Multan; Muscat; Mohenjo Daro; Nawabshah; Pasni; Panjgur; Sukkur

KARACHI BASE 3/7/1975-31/7/1975

STATUS: P1

AIRCRAFT FOKKER F-27: AP-ATU; AP-ALN; AP-ALW

OPERATED TO: MULTAN; PASNI; GWADAR; JIWANI; NAWABSHAH; SUKKUR; SUI; PANJGUR; HYDERABAD

RAWALPINDI BASE 19/8/1975-14/3/1976

STATUS P1

AIRCRAFT: FOKKER F-27: AP-AXF; AP-AXB; AP-AUX; AP-ALN; AP-AUR

OPERATED TO: Rawalpindi; Peshawar; Lahore; Lyallpur; Multan; Dera Ismail Khan; Chitral (Jamali); Gilgit (Pervez Saeed)

KARACHI BASE 28/3/1976-18/4/1976

STATUS: P1

AIRCRAFT: FOKKER F-27: AP-ALW; AP-ATU; AP-ALN

OPERATED TO: Gwadar; Hyderabad; Multan; Pasni; Panjgur; Mohenjo Daro; Nawabshah; Sukkur; Sui

Some Memories of PIA’s Northern Areas Base at Rawalpindi 1969
1 August: arrival at base as Cadet Pilot with commercial pilot’s licence (CPL) and instrument rating (IR).
Interview with Chief Pilot Mushtaq Sharif; his advice was, “Husain, no politics.”
PIA at Chaklala Airport (Rawalpindi) in 1969 had a different look from what the airport appears to be now. There was a garden with a 4 feet fence outside the main
terminal building where the visitors could go and be a part of the departure/arrival procedures as the passengers walked past them. The airplanes were parked right
there in front of their noses.

Met Khurshid, the flight scheduler, the biggest thing in our lives so far.
Issued fur lined boots, overcoat, gloves, epaulettes, white shirts and trousers (summer uniform) and winter uniform ordered at tailor via invoices given.
The pay of a cadet pilot was Rs 550.00 per month.

Looked for accommodation with Javed Talat Qureshi and initially moved in an apartment over a shop in Mughalabad commercial area, Rawalpindi. There were two rooms with
a bathroom with flush toilet. The other places looked over and bypassed had Indian style toilets where people squatted in the morning.

Observation flying started on the Fokker F-27 to the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Skardu), Peshawar, and Lahore mainly.

August: from 11th to 26th, Fokker F-27 First Officer training by instructors Shaukat Ali, S.A.H. Rizvi, Manzoor Chaudhry, and Mir Rashid (at Karachi).

First flight as F-27 First Officer was on 15 September 1969 with Captain Osman Khan to Peshawar and back. The pay meter started for the salary of a first officer, Rs 1475.00 per month in the scale of __ can’t remember.
Looked for accommodation again and this time at Mrs. Davies Private Hotel, not far from Intercontinental Hotel, Rawalpindi. It was a suite of rooms, furnished, for Rs 1200. Two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a sitting area with full board (meals) in the dining hall. There was an attendant present if needed.

I was visited here by various people at the time, my elder brother, who was posted at Chakothi in Azad Kashmir and Mr. H. Catchpole, my principal at Sargodha who was now teaching at Abbotabad Public School, my younger brother Jafar and some ladies and gents.

Pervez Saeed and Khalid Wyne lived nearby in an apartment and we used to meet frequently at work and socially, they were mobile. Asad Ali was also present but lived away with his family on Peshawar Road. Hashim Akbar Hashambhoy was a fellow pilot at this time and so was Naeem Haider who unfortunately died in a road accident in Islamabad on way to the airport on duty in a PIA transport. Javed Majeed Qureshi was also present in Rawalpindi and in one three pilot operation he briefed me on the takeoff power check which we had to shout above the propeller noise when the power was applied sitting on the brakes on the runway: torque pressure, RPM, TGTs, oil pressures and temperatures all ok, power check complete.

So, this is how the career kicked off initially in 1969. The crew were picked up from their residence by PIA transport and if living in a common area, in one transport according to seniority.
Flights coming from Karachi, Pk 300 and 308, morning and evening flights were regular. A breakfast used to be laid out for the Trident crew (Pk 300) in the dining hall of the airport which PIA used with impunity. The breakfast provided for crew flying every morning was free and was a sumptuous affair with chicken tikka thrown in with good measure and parathas and omelet.
After the evening flight every day, a dinner was packed and given to each of the departing Fokker crew going home for the night. This was also on the house.
A DC-6 used to be parked at times of the Afghan Airlines and the captain a well known figure among the pilots and in the restaurant.
C-130 flying of the PAF used to complement our trips to the Northern Areas.

One captain, Amin Akhtar [captain on sked (schedule)] made a deep impression at this time on most of us since we discussed this topic amongst ourselves. He was a simple Punjabi, rustic you can say, but with such zeal and determination to start and complete each flight on schedule that at times the task assumed a flight safety risk. He would never delay a flight due to weather and after the Fokker F-27 crash on 6 August 1970, flying with him and departures assumed life and death proportions in our as yet inexperienced minds. The only answer coming from him when asked if the departure was to be announced by the staff, was, yes, announce the departure. Outside the wind could have been howling or a storm raging.
He told me once that takeoffs and landings are not that a big thing as other things in airline flying, though he did not elaborate. Captain Amin Akhtar as a copilot on a DC-3 Dakota in Gilgit or Skardu had met with a mishap on takeoff, which was aborted due engine failure. The captain had lost his leg as the propeller sliced it or injured it so badly that it had to be amputated. This accident it seems worked its way in his psyche but I don’t know in what way. The captain of the DC-3 was given a posting as a flight dispatcher in New York for PIA flights coming over there. I had met him as a copilot of 707 and 747 when I used to fly there, though the accident and its connection with Amin Akhtar seeped in much later.