Muhammad Zubair Khan, 79149/Qasim

 

Flt.Lt. Muhammad Zubair Khan

By Kazi Zulkader Siddiqui, 671/Latif

Muhammad Zubair Khan, kit no. 79149/Qasim House joined Cadet College Petaro in 1979 in 8th Class and left the college in 1984 after completing his Intermediate.

He was born on 15 October 1965, and died in a PAF air crash at Isakhel - 190Km south of Islamabad on 18 May 1996. 

After leaving Petaro, he joined the Pakistan Air Force in 84 GDP course.

Nasir Mehmood, 79113 narrates: "Zubair was a very intense individual and bit eccentric. He was very focused, good at both studies as well as sports. He was so hell bent to join PAF that after flunking the entry test in Petaro for PAF he went on a BUNK to apply from Hyderabad and the destiny was meant for him to become a HERO. He enjoyed his stint in PAF academy Risalpur and I am told he was second in command for the final term in the academy. He was never afraid to take on any challenge coming his way his was always available to take bulls on the horn. One of his course mates working in Radars told me that he was very difficult to catch when he was up there in the SKY, I reckon SKY was his LIMIT."

Zubair laid down his life trying to save the life of his student. One of his PAF mates narrates the story of his act of heroism as follows:

"I was in flight safety when he crashed. Actually the aircraft went into spin but they could not recover and decided to eject. He was sitting in rear seat as instructor. In tandem seat aircraft, the rear seat always ejects first so that pilot in rear seat is not injured when front pilot ejects (with jet of front seat).

On Chinese aircraft which Zubair was flying, there is no automatic system where rear pilot ejects first! Zubair knew if he ejected, his student will go down with the aircraft. He ordered his student to eject. As such, his student was not responding but after repeated calls from Zubair, he ejected. As a result Zubair was injured, incapacitated with jets of front seat, and could not eject. He went down with the aircraft.

The student landed safely with parachute. However we will never know if Zubair embraced shahadat due to jets of front seat or was only injured and subsequently crashed".

A report on this crash is recorded on the website http://www.warbirds.in/Crashes/crdetails.php?crno=PAF0077 as follows:

"A pilot was killed as a jet trainer aircraft of PAF crashed on a routine training mission. According to a press release from Pakistan Army's ISPR, the other pilot managed to eject safely when the aircraft crashed near Isa Khel, about 190 kilometers southwest of Islamabad. Crashed on a training mission in Punjab province. Flying Off. Tanveer-ur-Rehman ejected safely and Flt. Lt. Muhammad Zubair Khan received fatal injuries in the crash"

Aircraft type: FT-6

Dat of crash: 18 May 1996

Pilot: Flying Officer Tanveer-ur-Rehman

May Allah grant jannah to Flt.Lt. Muhammad Zubair Khan.


 

 

In Memory of Zubair

By Adil Baloch, 7993/Ayub

Zubair’s baby face with his white cap on while he recites Qur’aan in the morning assembly is stuck in my head now.

Intense and Eccentric are probably the right words for this true Pathan son of Pakistan. Him and I were never close, but I always thought of him as a border-line genius.

Dr. Naseem and I recalled something from yester years back in 2007 when we had our get together in Karachi. Neither one of us could recall the incidence accurately but both had a very good recollection of the accurate FLAVOR. This must have been in the winter of 1979 because I didn’t care much about getting admitted in the dispensary starting in 9th class.

All three of us—myself, Dr. Naseem and Flt. Lt. Zubair Khan (Shaheed) ended up with fever in the dispensary at the same time. Naseem’s fever went away in a day and so he knew he was going to get discharged. He came up with his idea of showing high temperature on the thermometer and dipped the thermometer in a hot cup/glass of tea/milk?? ………… obviously the “paara” on the thermometer got to a point of finding its way out from the top' Zubair gave Naseem an earful telling him that he was going to get everyone in trouble. Not sure what happened next, but rubbing the thermometer in between palms to raise the mercury was the only way people knew of as the trick of the trade. While I did not get a chance to know this brother of mine all that much, I certainly wish I had a chance to tell him that he always knew how to do the right thing: 

Yoo.n hee sochta raha buhat dair tak magar uss ko kuch na bata saka

Woh ha.nsee ha.nsee mei.n chala gaya mei.n haath tak na hila saka 

We should celebrate his brief stay here for he may not have seen what we have now but we certainly will never get a chance to see what he saw: 

Taqdeer banaanay waalay tuu nay kamee na kee
Ab kiss ko kiya mila yeh muqaddar kee baat hai 

May Allah give Zubair the choicest place in Jannat.