Flying Gladiators

Brig (Retd) Saeed Ismat, SJ and Maj (Retd) Ikram Sehgal remember the golden days of aviation.

President General Pervez Musharraf presented “Flying Brevets” to the officers of P-43 Army Aviation Young Officers Course at a ceremony at Army Aviation Base, Gujranwala Cantt. recently. It brought back nostalgic memories. Thirty three years ago both of us graduated from the Army Aviation School, Dhamial in March 1969, only 12 surviving the initial intake of 27 officers in Army Aviation Young Officers Course P-10. The then Commander-in-Chief Pakistan Army Gen Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan pinned flying wings on our chest, a few days later he became President of the country. In 1967 we had the distinction of topping (out of 350 officers) the Infantry Weapons and Tactics Course at Infantry School, Quetta, in 1969 we missed out on the “All-Round Efficiency Trophy” and “the Flying Trophy” respectively, Capt (Retd) Pervez Yousuf (Miss PMA 1963) and Brig (then Maj) Farooq Ahmed Khan (Ironhead) being the deserving winners. We were both posted to 1 Army Aviation Squadron which was then on the move from Dhamial to Mangla Cantt. (Saeed) served as QM with Col Hashmi, (Ikram) became the Squadron Adjutant. We spent wonderful days at Mangla, mainly due to the presence as Corps Commander 1 Corps of one of the finest officers that the Pakistan Army has produced, late Lt Gen M Attiqur Rahman.
During this period, the ratio of pilots to aircraft was not adequate, there was a tremendous shortage of pilots in a “demand” situation. (Saeed) was sent post-haste to do the PAF Flight Instructor School (FIS) at Risalpur while (Ikram) did the OH(13)S Basic Helicopter Course (dead man’s curve) at Dhamial. (Saeed) went onto instruct several batches of Army Officers how to fly, as the youngest VIP-qualified helicopter pilot in Army Aviation in 1970, Ikram flew Alouette-3s officially and a host of other aircraft unofficially (for operational reasons) from Khunjerab Pass to Teknaf, south of Cox’s Bazar. (Saeed) got his “Sitara-e-Jurat” directing air sorties and artillery fire in Chamb in 1971. In relative economic terms both of us have been extremely fortunate but the finest period of our youth was that spent in the service of the country as officers of the Pakistan Army, the “aviation” transition period was certainly “creme de la creme”. The quality of our colleagues was outstanding, the camaraderie was excellent! Former infantry officers with extremely strong attachments to our parent units, we rated our Army Aviation service as “superlative” in quality. Whether (Saeed) teaching his students to come out of a “spin” or (Ikram) lifting casualties from a mountaintop in Azad Kashmir or Gilgit, we risked our lives daily and thought nothing of it. Therefore one can well appreciate the much more manifold risks today’s Army Aviators face! People like “Uz”, later Maj Gen (and High Commissioner), Saeeduz Zaman Janjua kept us forever in a state of good aerial humour, the integrity, competence and indomitable spirit of officers like (then Lt Col) Maj Gen (later Governor NWFP) Nasirullah Khan Babar and (then Maj) Maj Gen Hidayatulah Khan Niazi was a source of great inspiration to us. How can one forget (Ikram’s) beloved Flight Commander in Log Flt Eastern Command, Maj (later Brig) Tirmizi, an unsung symbol of quiet courage, fairplay and determination, the perfect Aviator CO in the most adverse circumstances.
Today’s “flying gladiators” risks face far more than we did in our mostly “seat of the pants” flying. Belonging to the “fourth dimension” makes it not only a privilege but a matter of immense pride and satisfaction to be clubbed with such outstanding specimens of the human race. The Army Aviation of today is many multiple times than the size of the Army Aviation of upto (and including) 1971, the mission statement now includes operational areas like Siachin and Kargil for extended periods on a regular basis. Pakistan has one of the finest flying potentials in the world, have we taken advantage of this outstanding expertise and experience? Do we really honour our Aviators for their sustained bravery and dedication? Given that our outstanding fighting machine, the PAF, will be hard-pressed holding its own fighting a battle for air superiority in any future war, why are we not using the down-the-line Army Aviation School to force-multiply our war potential? This institution can make this country air-minded at low cost, indeed what about making a “poor man’s air-force” which will give PAF a respite from being constantly asked for ground support in the first few critical days of any war? Our flying clubs are woefully inadequate in expertise, finance and capacity to constantly develop the human raw material necessary to feed our military and civilian aviation needs in this modern electronic age of ECMs and PGMs. Why have we not concentrated on strengthening the one asset we already possess, an institution that has already created a great number of par excellence pilots? Every Armed Forces institution that teaches college level courses is already attached to a University, why is the Army Aviation School not part of any University? The teaching curriculum has more depth and is far more extensive than at comparable courses anywhere in the world, we can safely bet no one can teach “Principles of Flight” better (or in more detail) than late Col Khalid Janjua. Can one forget the magic flying touch of instructors like Col Aslam or Maj Zaka or Maj Saadat or Maj Khalid Kamal or Maj Mokeet or Maj Patrick Tierney or late Capt Qasim? Indeed we were lucky to have as Commandant Army Aviation School, Brig MM Karim, a fine soldier of outstanding qualities and scholarly attributes.
The President should seriously consider re-naming the “Army Aviation School” as the “National Flying Academy” and make it open for concurrent courses for all students, inviting foreign civilian and military students. Side by side, let us not forget the excellent aviation engineering expertise that keeps our aircraft flying safely, we must also have a “National Aviation Engineering Academy” to impart the necessary technical knowledge to potential aviation engineers. These must be duly affiliated to universities.
We must concentrate on force-multiplying our available aviation assets. In this country we have several thousand former Army Aviation (and PAF) pilots and aviation engineers available to make a solid worthwhile contribution to the national aviation effort. Let us not waste this tremendous resource, aviation is a homegrown genius within Pakistan which needs to be fostered and developed!