ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi conferred a gold medal on a Pakistan International Airlines pilot for exhibiting valour during a rescue flight to evacuate 170 people, members of former president Ashraf Ghani’s cabinet and high-ranking officials, from Taliban-controlled Kabul on August 15.
The fall of Kabul to the Taliban, at a speed that was not anticipated by the international community, prompted thousands to head to Hamid Karzai International Airport, the only way to fly out of the country.
When he landed a passenger airliner that morning, everything seemed normal, said Maqsood Bajrani.
Waiting on the tarmac to begin the return flight, “I started noticing that there was panic outside, and the situation was not normal. More people were rushing inside the airport and gunshots were also heard.”
Bajrani started to push back ahead of take-off but was then told by the control that passenger flights had been suspended and he did not have the authorisation to take off.
He then made the biggest call of his flying career.
“I had a conversation with my second officer that we are going to take off even if they don’t authorise it. It was not a normal situation.”
“After observing the situation for an hour, I finally took off. The visibility was good which enabled me to avoid the military traffic. There were some Chinooks, Gunship helicopter and some other cargoes.”
“Had we delayed for few more minutes we wouldn’t have made it. It was the last commercial flight of that day.”
“Most of the passengers were either in the cabinet of the president Ghani or somehow part of the government. They were fleeing the country with their families and were pushing us to take off as soon as possible.”
“There was no communication and I was on my own when it came to the technical clearance. I was told to manage the situation by myself.”
The passengers were “ready to fly and get out of Afghanistan at any cost” and experienced a wave of relief when the plane finally arrived in Islamabad, he said.
