Past Reminiscences

Aug 16, 1978, Sector Dubai-Islamabad, Aircraft AP-AYV (Alpha Papa-Alpha Yankee Victor), B747-282B,  1230-1527Z.

It was Ramadan and our arrival at Islamabad was just after Iftar time, i.e.,  sunset. Captain Siraj Ali was flying the sector and made a visual approach for landing on Runway 30 after joining right downwind. He had also broken his fast earlier in the cockpit a little while ago. On final approach after gear and full flaps had been selected, Flight Engineer Hasan alerted us about our aircraft going below the glideslope. I gave the captain a call of below one dot glide slope as we approached the outer marker (5 miles out). This was repeated by me at least twice, but all to no avail and the aircraft sank further on the electronic glide slope (descent path) as we continued. I brought my left hand over the power levers meaning to open power immediately. This resulted in the captain coming out of his trance and pushing the levers for more power. We eventually caught up with the glide slope and landed safely. During the roll out after landing , the captain admonished me for not giving him proper call outs during the approach. I immediately replied that he should refrain from fasting while flying. He kept quiet. The captain on another flight later survived a serious mishap at Islamabad as a result of forgetfulness.

During a flight to Nairobi (Jomo Kenyatta International) on Oct 26, 1976, 1716 –2105 Z with Capt Shafiq Qadri in a Boeing 720 B, AP-ATQ, on sector Jeddah-Nairobi, we were cleared by Nairobi Approach for an arrival using the Instrument Landing System (ILS) Runway 06 via the Golf Golf (GG) radio beacon.

Captain Shafiq did a hold over GG and then proceeded on to intercept the ILS 06 procedure and landed safely. While parked in the holding area near the runway waiting for KLM to touch down, we were queried by the tower for the reason for hold over GG as advised to him by the approach controller. Capt Shafiq apologised for this oversight and apparently was let off for didn’t hear anything on the matter after that.

On April 22, 1984, B707, AP-AXA, sector Nairobi-Abu-Dhabi, 1405-1910Z, Pakistan Seven Four Four.
When handed over to Mogadishu Tower by East Air Centre and in contact with them while overflying Somali airspace after departure from Nairobi with First Officer Asrar H. Khan, I heard over the common Radio Telephone (R/T), Mogadishu Tower clearing a Somali flight on a reciprocal track through our level. We were in clouds and I immediately contacted Mogadiscio tower repeating time over Mogadiscio with level and also to the reciprocal flight giving him our data, position and level. I wrote this up in the debrief and this was taken up by our flight operations department via ICAO with East Air Centre.

Thereafter on many other flights over Somalia, Mogadiscio Tower never replied to my transmissions though we kept our ears sharp. There was another frequency 126.7 mHz on which all aircraft used to give blind transmissions giving their data to listeners whoever was interested and 121.5, the international distress was sometimes kept selected on the secondary VHF communication receiver.

Personal torment

On May 9, 1983, with aircraft AP-AZW, a B707-251B with radio call sign, Pakistan 225 on sector Karachi-Muscat-Bahrain (KHI-MCT-BAH), timings 1635-1815, 1905-2030. All times are zulu (UTC). Cockpit crew is First Officer Naeem Kazi and Flight Engineer Saeed Memon

After landing and exiting the runway at BAH we were given taxi instructions and a parking bay. This was amended during taxiing and another bay was allotted.

In the Azimuth Guidance Nose in Parking System (AGNIS) there are two sets of lights to watch, one which is red and green and allows/disallows movement into the bay and the other set which guides you into the bay on the centre line and allows stoppage as the eye aligns with aircraft symbol on the board on your left wall.

According to the ATC controller, I taxied into the bay while the light was red meaning the air jetty was not set up properly to receive the aircraft. As we creeped forward and just as I was waiting for the 707 symbol to align on the board, the upper surface of the wing made contact with the building structure causing a 2 x 2 inch tear in the aircraft upper skin.

ATC came on the radio to let me know that the light was red when I came into the bay and this was acknowledged by our call sign. I may be wrong but I think I came in on a green light and nobody else in the cockpit noticed anything unusual.

Passengers were deplaned, those who were getting off here disembarked and those continuing on to Karachi given a different carrier or hotel.

The PIA engineers told me that they could do the job with high speed tape that night but it would be risky. The flight night stopped and Capt Pervaiz Saeed, Chief Pilot B707 was sent in from Karachi to investigate the next day.

You can imagine how I felt that night in the hotel. The Director Flight Operations was very understanding and let me off here tasking my crew for letting the captain fly alone. It took four days to get back to flying.

Pressurization

On April 18, 1983 on sector ORY (Orly)-ATH (Athens) in a B707-340C freighter aircraft with registration AP-AWU and call sign, Pakistan Eight Zero Six, we had to land back at ORY from about 50 miles out because the Flight Engineer was unable to understand the normal operation of the aircraft pressurization since the panel was a little different and told me that it was malfunctioning– he couldn’t stop the cabin from climbing. Departure was at 1225Z and return to ORY at 1350Z.

With me that day were Capt S.R. Hasan (co-pilot) and Flight Engineer Nadir plus a Flight Attendant.

On return to ORY, the ground engineers demonstrated to Nadir after pressurizing the aircraft on ground that the system was normal. We departed again at 1700Z and around the same altitude out of ORY, Nadir gave me another scare by telling me the same story. However, in a little while he was able to understand and manage the system and we continued to ATH without further fuss, arriving at 2015Z.

On April 18, 1985,  we were given a B720 B with registration AP-ATQ to operate a scheduled domestic passenger flight on sector KHI(Karachi)-FSL(Faisalabad)-KHI. With me was the same copilot, Capt S.R. Hasan, Flight Engineer Iftikhar Moghal and Cadet Flight Engineer Fazal. Departure time was 0833Z but we returned back to KHI at 0928Z from an altitude of 17,000 feet because the main blower valve (blue light) which automatically closes at a pressure differential of 2.5 psi in the pressurization system but due to a system malfunction was to be manually closed, could not be closed according to Moghal.

As a precaution, we had donned our oxygen masks in the cockpit and to accomplish this task, Moghal, while wearing a portable oxygen mask, went below the cockpit via steps into a compartment called the lower 41 which houses the equipment racks for the electronic systems, and where the manual operation to close this main blower was to be conducted, leaving the Cadet sitting on his panel. On return to his seat, Moghal,  rather visibly disturbed dropped the oxygen masks for the passengers as we went through the descent checklist while starting a descent for 14000 feet.

On arrival at KHI, the ground engineers were rather skeptical by the tale that the blower valve could not be closed and the dropping of the oxygen masks in the cabin did not go well with them either, and demonstrated after pressurizing the aircraft how easy it was to close it manually.

However, another B720B aircraft, AP-AXM was provided to complete the flight and this was done without further interruption.

The next day I had to present myself for inquiry at Flight Operations Dept in the Head Office, where both of us were called to explain our actions. I was asked why my altitude had reached 17,000 feet and from this I gathered that this was to have been handled much earlier but I couldn’t leave my station in the aircraft or monitor the Flight Engineer when he visited the lower 41 compartment in the air, and so was let off and so was he, strangely.

It is rather odd that both these incidents occurred on April 18, two years apart and with the same co-pilot.

Aviation Week Commercial

The Making of an Airline Captain

It is the summer of 1966 and I am in the first year of an undergraduate course in Forman Christian College, Lahore when the airline advertisement appears, “Want to be a Boeing Captain?” The airline is hiring pilot trainees and is opening a Flying Training Academy. I immediately apply and ask for a recommendation from my school Principal, Mr. Hugh Catchpole. He had given me a good testimonial on leaving school and since I played cricket and also managed okay at English Language, a subject which he taught, I passed with him. One remark from his testimonial reads, “He was also proficient at Gliding at which he won his Wings in an unusually short time.”

I was called for the intelligence tests which was followed by an interview by a visiting airline team to Lahore led by Brigadier Sadiqullah. At that time there was no civilian medical board, so the Combined Military Board (CMB), examined us. I was given a Fit, A1B rating. This was followed by a second interview, this time with Captain Shaukat Hussain Khan, Director Flight Operations, PIA in the Chief Pilot’s Office at Lahore Airport. Captain Shaukat was operating a scheduled flight on the occasion and the interview took place during the flight’s transit at Lahore.

We were dispatched to the Lahore Flying Club for ten hours of aptitude flying assessment and my log book says this started on March 18, 1967. The first flight in a Cessna 150, the air experience with Flight Lt. M.S. Khan, CFI went like this. While waiting to line up on the runway at Walton Airport with myself in the left seat and feet on the rudder pedals and brakes which are the top portion of them, I couldn’t stop the trembling in my legs probably because I was holding the brakes with my toes. Try and imagine the situation, the instructor is sitting next to me and I unable to control my legs, till he says, “control yourself”. I slide my feet further up and the trembling stops and we taxi to the intersection for takeoff.

On returning home after a training exercise, I used to sit in a chair and with the wall in front of me on which I had drawn all the cockpit instruments, rehearse and try to improve my eye scan of the instruments while performing a maneuver. This was a very basic flight simulator made by myself. The final assessment here was done by Wing Commander S.M.Ilyas.

There was another interview with Captain Shaukat, the DFO, where he remarked, “What has flying done to you?”

On April 30, 1967, I flew on a Trident aircraft, a scheduled flight, Pk 304 to Karachi to join the PIA Flying Academy. We were given board and lodging at Grand Hotel, Malir near Karachi International Airport. It was free everything, laundry included and the airline bus used to take us every morning to the Ground Training School at the Airport. The flying training  started in Feb 1968 and was complete by May 1969. I did my first solo in a Cessna 150 on March 5, 1968 in 23.16 hours which included ten hours from aptitude testing in Lahore and was the first in my group of twenty six trainees. My instructor prior to solo was Group Captain M.J. Khan but later I flew more with Captain Hyder Baluch. We acquired the Private Pilot’s Licence (#748, 03/08/1968),  followed by the Commercial (#442, 17/06/1969) with Instrument Rating here. The Instrument Rating was done on a Cessna 310, a twin engine and I finished off with 226 hours total time at the Flying Academy.

Captain Hyder Baluch was a very confident instructor and though rough and sometimes brutal, he made a very confident pilot out of me especially when solo flying in the training area. His steep turns were with 60 degrees bank, whether high or low level. The low level ones at 300 feet had to be estimated without the altimeter and precautionary landings included touching down on dirt or whatever there was in the training area after the inspection and dummy runs.

My first posting as a cadet pilot was to Dacca in former East Pakistan. This was later changed to Rawalpindi, the Northern Area Base of the Airline and I reported to the Chief Pilot Rawalpindi, Captain Mushtaq Shariff, whose advice was, “Remember Husain, no politics.”

While waiting for First Officer, Fokker F-27 training in Rawalpindi, we flew the sectors operated by this base, which were mainly to Gilgit, Skardu, Lahore and Peshawar. On 11th August 1969  we completed day training and subsequently the night portion in Karachi with Captain Mir Rashid on 26th August. First flight as a First Officer (copilot) followed on a non-scheduled extra section flight to Peshawar on 15th Sept 1969 with Captain Osman Khan.

NDB Night Let-Down at Peshawar

Sector KHI-PEW with departure and arrival 1952Z* and 2200Z respectively on Jan 2, 1981. Aircraft, a B 707-251B with registration AP-BAA and radio call sign Pakistan three two six delta. *Z means GMT.

This flight is remembered because I was a raw captain having flown in command the previous September. The scheduled flight was delayed and was passed to me via phone call by Chief Pilot Training, Capt Zia Mohammad. One of our senior captains on the equipment, Andy Pacheco, who turned down the flight offer, remarks that Peshawar is a place to go in daylight only as we meet in the flight operations office at the airport.

It is pitch black as we depart Karachi for Peshawar with First Officer Fahim and Flight Engineer Ashraf (deceased Kathmandu) this evening. The flight is routine but we have taken the precaution of a thorough pre-flight check of the weather radar as convective weather could be encountered.  Our routing takes us via Nawabshah and Mianwali to Peshawar. As we descend into Peshawar, we are handed over by Lahore FIC to Peshawar Tower as Cherat Approach has gone off the air at 1900 local time. We are given the prevailing weather at Peshawar and it seems it is okay but for medium and few low clouds in the vicinity and over the airfield. Peshawar is obscured by clouds.

We report over the NDB (radio beacon) for an instrument let down and make a direct entry in the hold going outbound and starting our timing  for the leg abeam the NDB.  Leaving the NDB and starting our descent on the outbound leg in the descent pattern, we are quizzed by the Tower if we would like radar vectors for positioning on final runway 35. I decline, reasoning that he may not have our correct identification owing to terrain. As we turn inbound, I request radar vectors for lining up with the runway. The tower obliges and we approach for a landing in a hazy sort of weather, and with the lead-in strobe lights of the runway guiding us in.

Going into the passenger cabin after the passengers have departed, I admire the coolness with which our cabin crew treat every landing and flight.

Is flying inherently dangerous

In training to be a pilot on PIA Flying Training Academy’s 
four Cessna 150s at Karachi, Pakistan from May 1967 to
 May 1969, the only mishap encountered was when one 
fellow pilot trainee while beating up a truck during 
prohibited solo low flying in the training area,  hit it with
 his nose wheel, which sheared off disrupting fuel supply. 
The engine failed and he made a forced landing in the dirt. 
The aircraft was put back into service after necessary 
repair and the pilot survived scratch less but was demoted
 to the next course.  He is on the verge of retirement now 
after a long career flying airliners, the last one a B747 for 
Saudia. There were twenty eight trainees and not a single
 engine failure during this time, and all of us acquired the CPL.

Flying like learning never ceases and requires constant skill 
and practice and in absence of these, it acquires an increase
 in the chance factor which can lead to a mishap. There is no
 room for complacency and constant mental rehearsing of 
the relevant SIDS and STARS, instrument let downs and
 taxi patterns on the ground before every flight assures a 
degree of safety and confidence.

Before every flight, in fact the night before, go over the 
departure procedure, your destination landing approach 
plates with safe altitudes and route weather you may 
encounter at that time of the year. NOTAMs have to be 
looked in. For the airline pilot, this is provided by the 
dispatcher. This repeats every time you go up.

Accidents have to be drummed in through the media since
 the first line of defence is an educated people. A lot of
 general aviation accidents take place because of too 
little preparation for the flight, too little knowledge generally 
of what is out there and a lot of complacency regarding 
weather. Pilot encounters with unplanned Instrument 
Meteorological Conditions when not instrument rated
 result mostly in panicking while trying to manoeuver 
and break clear of clouds. Instrument training should be
 a must on initial license issue at the Private Pilot Licence 
stage.