Boeing 707-340C  (Copyright © Farouk Salehjee)

This photo from early 1970s shows Capt. M. M. Salehjee with a crash landed PIA Boeing 707 at Ankara Airport, Turkey. Capt. M. M. Salehjee and Capt. Mohammed Arshad Mir (as co-pilot) were at the controls of aircraft as it approached Ankara Airport for landing. The landing was going to be made by Capt. Mir. The weather was bad and Mir asked Salehjee to take over for the landing. Somehow, Salehjee didn’t hear the request, Mir thought that he had and so the approach was flown with nobody at the controls until impact! The pilots were unable to regain control of the aircraft and it veered off the runway. The Boeing 707's main under carriage collapsed as it struck the runway very hard. As seen in this photo, soon after aircraft's crash landing PIA logo and titles were painted out from its tail and fuselage because Pakistan's then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was due to arrive at the same airport on a VVIP PIA flight few days later. Later, this Boeing 707 was repaired and returned to active service with PIA

Fokker F27 Friendship Mark 200  (Copyright © Andy Nicodemo)

Mountains of Chitral valley make beautiful background for this photo of AP-AUR taken by Andy at Chitral Airport. On June 16, 2004, AP-AUR was arriving at Chitral Airport as flight PK-660 from Peshawar. After landing at the airport, the Fokker, due to a technical fault, failed to stop on the runway and came to rest in nearby fields few feet away from the runway. The accident caused damage to aircraft's engine, nose, landing gear and fuselage. The ill-fated Fokker was declared a write-off and withdrawn from use. Aircraft engineers Andy Nicodemo and Neil MacGowan of Sydney-based company International Air Parts led the task of salvaging AP-AUR's engines. In following set of photos we will see successful removal of AP-AUR engines by Andy Nicodemo, Neil MacGowan and their team members

Fokker F27 Friendship Mark 200  (Copyright © Andy Nicodemo)

Neil MacGowan inspecting component removed from AP-AUR's engine

Fokker F27 Friendship Mark 200  (Copyright © Andy Nicodemo)

Andy Nicodemo carefully removing AP-AUR engine components