Civil ground based nav facilities in Pakistan during 50s

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Squawk_1200
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Civil ground based nav facilities in Pakistan during 50s

Post by Squawk_1200 »

During early 1950s and 1960s , what ground based navigation aids facilities ( stations) were available for low and high altitude navigation for domestic routes in Pakistan.

During the PIA DC3 , Connie and PIAs early jet era which basic and advance navigation instruments these aircraft had.

In the same era how was the navigation for the Nothern areas was planned , and which nav aids they had for those routes.

Just want to know a little history about that and thanks in advance.
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TAILWIND
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Re: Civil ground based nav facilities in Pakistan during 50s

Post by TAILWIND »

Don't know what was there in 50s, however Northern Areas navigation to this day is VFR. There is though a NDB at Gilgit and Skardu, technically speaking all flights are VFR. Though the pilots now have the luxury of knowing thier positions and waypoints through GPS etc.
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Abbas Ali
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Re: Civil ground based nav facilities in Pakistan during 50s

Post by Abbas Ali »

Excerpt from an article by Orient Airways pilot Capt. P. J. Massey published in 1951.

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Orient Skyfreighter Douglas C-47B-30-DK Skytrain (registration AP-ADA) at Skardu airfield. A native carrier is taking the last load of flour from the freighter. Mt. Haramosh and neighbouring peaks form a dramatic backcloth to the scene.
Tales of Not-always-fair Kashmir, where Peaks under 10,000ft Count as Foothills

SINCE the commencement of the Kashmir Incident an unorthodox but unquestionably efficient airlift has been maintained across a remote part of the Himalayas, with the mud-hut villages of Gilgit and Skardu as the objectives of the aircraft engaged.

But for the Dakotas which roar back and forth between Peshawar (the base of operations) and the above-mentioned villages, half a million people would have faced possible starvation. These two places are keypoints on the caravan routes that serve a Himalayan area about the size of Europe. Before the Kashmir Incident supplies reached them along the mule-caravan route from India, and by way of other (yak) tracks from the U.S.S.R. and Red China. But the cease-fire line through Kashmir cut these trade routes from India and, with the closing of the route from Red China and the U.S.S.R., supplies had to be ferried in by air to Gilgit and Skardu, for distribution to outlying settlements by yak, camel, donkey, mule and back-packing coolies.

Flying in this part of the world offers considerably greater problems than those presented by airlifts elsewhere, not excluding that across the famous Hump from Burma into China during the war. Aircrew in this Gilgit Airlift (as it is now called) do not have the benefit of oxygen, in spite of the fact that they are required to fly at heights exceeding 20,000ft. There are no meteorological facilities, or radio aids; and no maintenance facilities at Gilgit or Skardu, where the airstrips are hemmed in by mountains. Maps of the area, too, are inaccurate.

We normally fly at 12,000ft to 15,000ft up the valleys, but in bad weather we may go down to within a few hundred feet of the Indus, or climb to as much as 22,000ft. I have myself climbed out from Gilgit at 22,000ft. Often the valleys narrow so that a turn would not be possible as, at 10,000ft, both engines are on full power already; and mountains rise to heights of up to 28,000ft within a mile or two of the tracks.


At one point on the Himalayan Airlift one can see seven or eight of the world's highest mountains—Nanga Parbat (26,660ft), a great granite massif that rises in leaping walls; K2, or Mount Godwin Austen, the second highest peak in the world, only 1,000ft lower than Everest itself; Haramosh (24,270ft), Rakoposhi (25,500ft)—all of them to the north-east. To the north are the Great Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, with peaks rising to 25,000ft. Anything under 15,000ft is referred to as "the hills," and the range upon range of 10,000-ft peaks are dismissed as "foothills."

Over and through this wild and inhospitable country the Dakotas of Orient Airways fly from two to ten trips a day, carrying food, machinery and passengers between Peshawar (in the North-West Territories of Pakistan) and the remote villages of Gilgit and Skardu.

I, myself, have flown 1,010 trips on this "run" and, all told, the better part of 5,000 tons of freight have been delivered, including a small steam-roller and several jeeps.

When the first jeep was landed at Skardu the local natives thought it was some new kind of animal. Indeed, our request for water with which to top-up the radiator was answered with a bowl of milk and a truss of hay !

The only flat area for the construction of an airstrip lay across the local cemetery, and here the construction engineers (who reached Skardu by caravan) faced their first difficulty : the local people refused to allow their dead to be disturbed. However, the problem was overcome by suggesting that they would not be inconvenienced if the strip was laid over the cemetery. To this the locals agreed. Unfortunately, the construction gangs were not sufficiently liberal with the dressing of earth they laid over the cemetery, and the result was that the dead of Skardu are sometimes more than disturbed—by the wheels of heavily-laden Dakotas breaking through into their graves !

Skardu airstrip lies at 7,000ft a.s.l, and was, originally, only 900yd long; now this mud-flat strip has been lengthened to 1,600yd. Putting down a Dakota on 900yd at 7,000ft a.s.l. on a hot, turbulent afternoon when there is no "going round again," and with a load of 6,500lb, is quite good practice, and few of the pilots on the Airlift now have to use the extension. Landing is invariably made to the south-east, regardless of the wind, and take-off in the opposite direction.

From the pilot's point of view, Gilgit is simpler. The airstrip there comprises 2,000yd of grass and sand and, although it slopes to the north and is rough and bumpy, it is adequate. But the approaches are difficult, for high ground blocks both ends to within 500yd of the runway.

Two-way Fuel

On neither of these strips is there airfield equipment : no hangars, no radio control, no maintenance or re-fuelling facilities. Our aircraft carry a good reserve of fuel, so that they can make the return trip in the event of emergency during the outward flight from Peshawar. When snow covers Skardu you must decide from the air whether it is safe to land, and if the decision is "no," then you promptly turn back to base.

From the plains to Gilgit takes 14 days by mule caravan. By air the time is 1 1/4 hours. From Skardu to Peshawar would take the better part of a month by caravan; by air it takes two hours, given good weather. Freight carried has included steel rope, cows, beds, tin trunks, rice, spices, and skins. The steel-rope cargo incidentally, was in three 2,000-lb drums which broke loose during extreme turbulence and threatened to roll through the side of the aircraft into the Indus, 15,000ft below.

Passengers range from government officials to shepherds on the first leg of their pilgrimage to Mecca.

In view of the terrain, and the complete lack of airfield facilities, it is perhaps creditable, if not remarkable, that the Airlift has completed 12 million passenger-miles without one mishap, apart from disturbing a few of Skardu's dead. Of course, the pilots have had their moments. We experienced three engine failures during periods of bad weather, when the Dakota needed every ounce of power available; we had a forced landing at Chilas, because of bad weather. But such incidents, fortunately, provided nothing more than temporary excitement.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, General Sir Douglas Gracey, has referred to the Airlift as "Operation Guts." But my most vivid memories of over a thousand flights on the job are of the thousand arguments with airstrip labour—and of ten thousand mountains stretching away into the dim recesses of Tibet, China, and the Soviet Union, many of them never before seen by Man.
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imiakhtar
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Re: Civil ground based nav facilities in Pakistan during 50s

Post by imiakhtar »

Abbas Ali wrote:Excerpt from an article by Orient Airways pilot Capt. P. J. Massey published in 1951.
An excellent read, thanks for posting.

Do you happen to know of any books published on the story of Orient Airways?
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Abbas Ali
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Re: Civil ground based nav facilities in Pakistan during 50s

Post by Abbas Ali »

^ Book titled "The Story of Air Transport in Pakistan" by M.M. Salim has some chapters about Orient Airways.

Btw, Orient Airways was the first Asian airline to operate Convair-Liner.

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