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Usman's father was in Pakistan Army. Therefore the
family kept moving to different cities of Pakistan
based on his father's postings. Thus during his
childhood, he lived in Dacca, Comilla, Chittagong,
Sialkot, Rawalpindi, Multan and Karachi.
His very early
pre-school years were spent in East Pakistan. The
family was evacuated to West Pakistan during the
1971 war and his father was then posted to Multan.
He started his early
education in Multan where he was at the Multan
Cantt Public School for his kindergarten during
1971-1972. During 1973-1975, he studied at Sialkot
Cantt Public School and from 1975-1979 at Syr Syed
School Rawalpindi. A year before moving to Petaro,
he studied at Cantt Public School Karachi from
where he completed his 7th class.
Usman was always
good at sports throughout his school career. He
was the Pakistan junior champion under 12 for
tennis.
Thus, when he joined
Petaro, it was natural for him to be a part of
almost every sports team.
He ended up being
the Captain of the college
Tennis,
college Sailing,
and college
Swimming Team. That same year,
he was also the Vice Captain of the college
basketball team, college shooting team and college
athletics team. He was a star in javelin throw,
shot putt and discus throw, and was a member of
the 110m hurdles team. He represented
Hyderabad Board in athletics as well, and won the
silver medal.
In other activities,
he was Vice Captain of the English Debating Team,
and Editor in Chief of the college magazine
The
Cadet.
Usman was the SUO (Senior Under
Officer) of his entry in 1983-84, and was awarded
the Badge of Honour
after Matric.
Immediately after
passing out from Petaro, he joined Karachi
University and spent a year there. A year later,
he got admission to IIT, Chicago and moved to the
USA in 1986. During that year, he was a member of
the university tennis team as well. In 1988, he
transferred to Wichita State University and
graduated as electrical engineer in 1990. During
that period, he also got a private license for
flying in Wichita.
His first job was as
Distribution Engineer with Kansas Gas and Electric
Company where he worked from 1990-1992. He then
moved to San Jose, California and worked for
Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) from
1992-1994.
Due to his continued
interest in flying, he got a commercial flying
license and instrument rating while he was in
California.
At the end of 1994,
he decided to move back to Pakistan and worked as
a private consultant for four independent power
producers (IPPs) until 1997.
He could not get
away from flying. In 1996, he got selected as
cadet pilot in PIA (Pakistan International
Airlines), and worked with this airline until
2008. He initially flew Fokker aircraft, and then
later on moved on to Boeing 737 and Airbus 310.
In 2008, he joined
Etihad Airways where he is still employed as
captain/pilot. Initially he flew their
Airbus A330 and A340 planes and is now First
Officer / Captain of Boeing 777 aircraft. He is
based in Abu Dhabi.
Usman has been a
member of
the
Managing Committee
of the Petarian Association in various
capacities in the past.
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