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Capt. Shaukat H. Khan was one of
Pakistan's leading aviation pioneers and had a number of
historic firsts to his credit. He became PIA's number 1 pilot
after the death of Capt. Ali Akhtar Khan in PIA Boeing 720B
crash near Cairo Airport, Egypt, on May 20, 1965. He remained
PIA's number 1 pilot till 1984 when he retired from airline and
joined Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as Chief Flight
Inspector. During his career with PIA Capt. Shaukat was given
responsibility to fly a number of aircraft on their delivery
flights to Pakistan. Aircraft types flown by Capt. Shaukat on
delivery flights include Convair CV-240, Boeing 720B, Boeing 707
and Trident IE. As number 1 pilot, Capt. Shaukat led from front
and in 1974 he became first PIA pilot to fly a wide body
aircraft. The aircraft registered as AP-AXC was first of three
wide body McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 aircraft ordered by PIA.
After completing AP-AXC pre-delivery test flights, Capt. Shaukat
flew it on delivery flight to Pakistan. Two years later, in
April of 1976, PIA's very first Boeing 747, a Boeing 747-282
(AP-AYW) leased from TAP of Portugal flew from London to
Islamabad under Capt. Shaukat's command with Capt. Khusro as his
co-pilot. Then in July 1979, PIA's first brand Boeing 747-240B
Combi (AP-BAK) on its delivery flight from Seattle to Pakistan
flew under the command of Capt. Shaukat. Capt. Shaukat completed
this unique record by flying PIA's first brand new Airbus
A300B4-203 (AP-BAX) on its delivery flight from Toulouse,
France, to Pakistan in March 1980. As CAA's Chief Flight
Inspector, Capt. Shaukat was also member of delegation that
accepted delivery of PIA's first brand new Boeing 737-340 (AP-BCA)
in May 1985 and first brand new Airbus A310-308 (AP-BDZ) in June
1991. During his career with PIA, Capt. Shaukat was Director
Flight Operations (DFO) twice and Director Flight Safety for
seven years from 1975 to 1985. Capt. Shaukat accumulated more
than 24,000 flying hours during his illustrious and highly
successful career as pilot |
